Black Mass
by Swagnarok
Summary: Shiro definitively picks his side, drawing the wrath of the Black Organization. A crisis at Teitan Elementary unfolds. Mezcal Arc Resolution, 1020-1024. WARNING: Disturbing Content.
1. Chapter 1

Shinichi flipped the chair around and sat down, putting his arms on it and leaning forward.

They were in Yueling's kitchen. Him, Yueling, Rixin, Jacob, and Subaru Okiya. The day prior he'd solved a case here, and Shen and Yueling had plans to report the body and the break-ins to the police within a couple of hours.

" _So,_ " Jacob said. " _What you're saying is...that you're a mole within that Organization?_ "

" _That is correct,_ " Shinichi said. " _I work for a woman named Elena Miyano, and have been as such for roughly seven or eight months now._ "

Rixin nodded. " _I believe you._ "

Yueling and Jacob turned to him. " _Huh?_ "

" _Before he came here I already saw his name and face on the list of members,_ " Rixin said. " _When I was told that the person who was asking about me was 'some kid', I suspected it might be him._ "

" _Okay, but why do you believe him?_ " Yueling asked.

Rixin sighed. " _Okay, I guess there's no harm in saying this now. It was about a year and a half ago. I was trailing the President of a certain company. Me and my associates suspected he was engaged in some really scary corrupt dealings. So we followed him to an amusement park. A place called Tropical L-_

" _H-H-Hold up a minute!_ " Shinichi said, standing up. "You _were there?!_ "

Rixin nodded. " _Yes. Yes I was. I saw that guy take you from behind, hit you over the head, and then feed you something._ "

" _Then why didn't you help me?! Surely you knew what they gave me couldn't have been anything good!_ "

" _I thought you were already dead,_ " Rixin said. " _I figured that it was some kind of fast-acting poison they gave you, and I didn't want to risk anything. If I reported what I saw to the police, I'd most likely have to stay behind and be questioned. And if not, then the people who did that to you would know that some outside party had been present that night spying on them. So instead, I trailed those two guys as they were leaving. What were their names again?_ "

" _Gin and Vodka,_ " Shinichi said.

" _Right. I wasn't able to follow them for very long, because they apparently managed to shake me pretty fast, but I learned enough to pick up their trail later. And that's how I managed to infiltrate the Organization._ "

Shinichi sat back down. " _Well, I guess if you had stopped to helped me then the world would've known that I was still alive and had shrunk to the-_

They all looked at him funny.

" _Uh, never mind,_ " he said. " _In any case, I'm okay with the way things happened that night._ "

" _I'm glad to hear that,_ " Rixin said. " _But please indulge us: why mustn't these files be leaked?_ "

" _I myself am not entirely sure,_ " Shinichi admitted. " _But there's something called Nobutaro's Prophecy._ "

" _A...prophecy?_ " Jacob repeated. " _Like a religious thing?_ "

" _Again, I'm not sure,_ " Shinichi said. " _But the prophecy says everything's going to play out a certain way. And tremendous amounts of effort have gone towards ensuring that even the most improbable articles of that prophecy have been fulfilled. Things large enough that you wouldn't think any one person could determine the outcome of such. If that prophecy gets derailed as a result of our actions, our best chance of defeating the Organization will fly out the window. Those files getting leaked could have that exact effect, or so Elena-san is worried._ "

He turned to Jacob. " _Again, I'm sorry about your eye._ "

Jacob grinned. " _Hey, don't worry about it. Whatever this guy here_ (he then pointed to Okiya) ga _ve me healed them right up. Better than that, actually: I've got like 20/20 givsion now. And I'll bet that's not the only part of me that's been given a little upgrade. Probably won't need to see a doctor for another ten years._ "

" _I shouldn't have to remind all of you,_ " Okiya said, " _that it's extremely important you don't breathe a word of this to anyone._ "

Rixin and Jacob nodded. " _We won't._ "

And then Yueling stood up abruptly. " _HEEEEEEEEEHHHH?!_ "

" _Geez, don't shout like that!_ " Rixin said.

" _What's wrong? Surely you didn't tell somebody?_ " Jacob asked.

" _Worse!_ " she said, her face bright red. " _Rixin, I posted your last will and testament video online!_ "

Rixin stood up. " _What the heck?! Why would you do that?_ "

" _I thought that burglar was going to kill me,_ " she said. " _You told me to upload the video and the link to the files if anything should happen to you, but I was in such a worried state of mind that I thought he'd kill me before then._ "

" _Hey, what account did you post that on?_ " Shinichi asked.

" _I didn't have a YoTube account before then,_ " Yueling said. " _I just made one for that purpose a couple of seconds before uploading the video._ "

Jacob breathed a sigh of relief. " _In that case, it's possible that nobody's seen in yet. When was this?_ "

" _Yesterday morning,_ " Yueling said. " _About an hour and a half after Rixin left to meet up with you._ "

" _Then hurry up, go get your computer, and take it down!_ " Okiya said, uncharacteristically worrisome.

Yueling took out her computer and went to check out the video.

They huddled around the laptop and looked at it:

Zero views.

Yueling quickly deleted the video.

" _And...done,_ " Shinichi said. " _Looks like my work here is done._ "

" _Won't you guys stay for tea?_ " Yueling asked.

Jacob tapped on the table. " _Well, I've had to reschedule my flight for later tonight, shell out a couple hundred extra for that, so yeah, I'm in._ "

" _Count me out,_ " Shinichi said. " _I've got to get back to my friends. They think I stayed behind in the hotel room, but they should be finishing their sightseeing soon so I've got to get back before they do._ "

He got up and walked to the front door. He put his hand on the doorknob when-

" _Wait a minute,_ " Rixin said, walking up to him.

" _Yes?_ "

" _There's something I need to tell you, before you go,_ " Rixin said, " _considering that I probably won't see you again after this._ "

Shinichi took his hand off the doorknob and faced Rixin properly.

" _You have been an inspiration to me,_ " Rixin said. " _It was your sacrifice that led me to risk my life. Even after I learned that you were still alive, I knew that you were risking your life daily for the greater cause. My hat off to you, if I was wearing one. You are a flower in this world._ "

Shinichi shook his head. " _No sir, I'm just a guy who's doing what he was born to do. "_

And with that, he opened the door and stepped out to meet the light's embrace, a grand exit for the young man who was a detective.

 **Opening**

(Angel Night by Psy-S, an opening to City Hunter, performed here by Garnet Crow)

(To act decisively is a prerequisite to victory! Seize the day or die trying! Shiro-kun flips the tables at long last, and the Men in Black spring into action, breaking the long peace! Are we in for the fight of our lives? Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is DETECTIVE CONAN!)

 _I_ _rumine shon mashita ni mioroshi_

 _Yoru wo nobotte ku ESCALATOR_

 _Kooritsuita BIRU no tanima wo_

 _HEADLIGHT no kawa ga nagareru_

 _Saisho ni suki ni natta no wa koe_

 _Sore kara senaka to totonoerareta yubisuki_

 _Tokidoki damarigachi ni naru kuse_

 _Dokoka e itte shimau kokoro to MELODY_

 _ANGEL VOICE na wo yonde mimi sumasu ECHO_

 _SHINING SMILE kaze ni chiru hanabira to KISS_

 _ANGEL VOICE atarashii natsukashii ECHO_

 _SHINING SMILE isogazu ni ari no mama KISS_

 **Black Mass! Part One!**

 _*beep beep*_

 _*beep beep*_

 _Da**it, Kanehiko thought._

 _"I'm sorry, the number you've reached is not available. Please leave a message."_

 _He sighed, and:_

 _"Oi, Yukichi, call me back, will ya? You can't hide from this forever, you know. I won't say that I'm not mad, but I'm willing to forgive you if you just come home. We can talk about this over a hot meal."_

 _Putting the phone back in his pocket, he stepped inside._

 _"Torishima-san. We've been expecting you."_

 _"Is it done?"_

 _"Yes, your credit card account is frozen."_

 _Kanehiko breathed a sigh of relief._

 _"Torishima-san, I don't know how to break this to you, but...quite a lot of debt has been accrued on your card. Whoever it was bought one luxury vehicle, they spent 160,000 yen at a strip club, purchased 20 bottles of expensive champagne, ate out twice at a five-star restaurant and booked a room in a top-notch hotel...on top of some smaller miscellaneous purchases."_

 _Kanehiko nodded. "I understand."_

 _"Might you any idea who was behind this?"_

 _"Yes. It was my good-for-nothing son. I take full responsibility for this."_

 _"As we would expect you to. I am sorry, but this sum amounts to over 30 million yen."_

 _(Author's Note: $300,000 USD)_

 _Taken back by that high figure, Kanehiko needed a second to catch his breath._

 _And then:_

 _"Yes, yes. I will pay that back. Whatever it takes. Please just make sure that it won't be possible for my son to make any additional purchases in the future."_

 _"We will, of course. Have a nice day, Torishima-san."_

 _Kanehiko bowed politely and walked out, to face an uncertain and unwelcome future._

 **Scene Transition**

*wheeze wheeze*

Ayumi patted Genta on the back. "Hang in there."

"What are you doing?" Mitsuhiko chided for the upteenth time. "Why's he on his hands and knees? He's looking straight down that way, right?"

"But my eyes are closed," Genta said.

This was a mistake, Dr. Agasa thought.

He'd shelled out a large sum for all of them to get a ride on the Ngong Ping 360, a sort of cable car that granted tourists a one-of-a-kind view of Lantau Island, which was also the location of the Hong Kong Disneyland (they would not be going there as it'd be too expensive). Not only that, but he even paid extra for them to ride in the "crystal cabin", which had a glass bottom.

Long Zhaoyi, age 44, their polyglot tour guide, chuckled. "Kind of a waste of money, huh?"

"Well, it's not like he can help it," the Professor said, swallowing his irritation.

Then Zhaoyi's eyes widened somewhat. "Hey, all of you, look over there! You see that?"

With the exception of Genta they all went up to the transparent wall to look.

It was a giant statue of Siddhartha Gautama, better known as "the Buddha". It was still pretty far off, but-

"Yup, we should be landing soon," Zhaoyi said.

He turned to the Professor. "So, where to next?"

"Um, I'm not sure," the Professor said. "Ai-kun researched Hong Kong for me and emailed some of her recommendations to my phone. Just give me a second."

"Ai-kun?" Zhaoyi repeated. "Oh, is that the name of your wife?"

"N-no, she's a girl who I've been taking care of," the Professor said.

That wouldn't be such an off description though, he thought with a deadpan look, reminded of how he'd been made to shed five pounds in the past month.

Well, that's the one good thing about this trip, he thought. Since she's not here, I get to eat like a king.

Then his eyes widened.

In Haibara's email he just now noticed that there was a "P.S." attached to it. It read:

"P.S. I know you'll want to totally pig out while in Hong Kong so I asked Ayumi-chan to keep an eye on you. Oh, and expect me to weigh you after you get back, to make sure you don't regain that dead weight we worked so hard to get rid of."

I guess not then, he thought dolefully.

He looked over the list and-

"Hmm? What's the Kowloon Walled City?"

"Oh, that?" Zhaoyi said. "Back in the day it was this huge megastructure of hundreds of houses and shops packed into one tiny space that tens of thousands of people lived in. There was nothing like it in the world. But it was demolished in the early 90s, so there's not a whole lot to see now. I don't think it'd be worth the travel time."

The Professor shrugged. "Alright then. I guess we can just...go back to the room for now."

"Huh? But I'm hungry," Genta said.

"Same," Mitsuhiko said. "All this walking builds up an appetite."

"Hey, what time is your show tonight?" Zhaoyi asked.

"Uh, 6:00," the Professor said. "But due to the fact that we won these tickets we get to show up an hour early for a behind the scenes tour."

"Oh that sounds like fun," Zhaoyi said. "Hey, listen, there's this really fantastic place to eat just two blocks from the hotel. They make the best dumplings. Fill them with quail meat, even."

"Alright, sounds good."

Shinichi should be just about done by now, the Professor thought. Surely.

 **Scene Transition**

And sure enough, Conan was waiting for them when they returned to the room, playing a rom-com visual novel from the late 90s on a computer.

As soon as he heard them coming, he pressed Control+Alt+Delete and closed the laptop a few seconds later.

Then he jumped onto the bed, pulled the sheets over him, and pretended to be asleep.

The first thing Mitsuhiko did was walk across the room and put his hand on the laptop.

"How's it feel?" Ayumi asked.

"It's hot," Mitsuhiko said.

He pushed the button on the side and opened up the disk drive (it was old enough model a laptop that it still had one of those).

Conan got out of bed. "Dang it you guys, why do you have to ruin my fun?"

"Isn't material like this kind of like cheating on Nancy?" Genta said.

"Huuuuh?" Conan said. "It's not like that."

They all knew he was lying, of course. And he knew that they knew. At this point it was pretty much something that he was just obliged to say. Didn't want to be encouraging a bunch of 8 year olds to dabble in romantic relationships.

Then again, these eight year olds were rather exceptional, but still.

"So, did you guys have fun today?" Conan asked.

"Yeah!" Ayumi said, reaching into a small plastic bag. "I got this at a street shop! Isn't it cute?"

It was a plush goldfish with a stoic human expression on its face and a horn on its head.

"And I got this," Mitsuhiko said, taking the lid off a small rectangular box just big enough to fit two-

"Oh, those are called Baoding Balls, right?" Conan said.

"Yeah!" Mitsuhiko said. 'You spin them in your hand like this."

He gave a demonstration.

"...I hope you didn't pay good money for those," Conan said, "because to be honest those look like a huge waste of some minimum wage manufacturer's time."

"No, no," Mitsuhiko said. "They're good for your motor skills."

"Well, if I ever suffer a stroke then I'll be sure to ask you where under your bed you'll have thrown those and forgotten about them for ten years," he said.

Not funny, Mitsuhiko thought. You already had a seizure, didn't you, Conan?

 **Scene Transition**

She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The sober look on her mother's face was a bit unnerving; then again, Elena Miyano was a woman with a lot on her plate.

It felt wrong, almost. Just scheduling an appointment and showing up to a place like this, which was supposed to be a closely guarded secret, the headquarters of a group of people who devoted their lives to such an important cause, just to ask such a petty question.

No, Haibara thought. I scheduled this appointment. And the question is important. I needn't feel bad about this. I just have to make sure not to say anything too revealing on my end.

"Have a seat," Elena said.

Not sure whether Elena was speaking as a mother or as the head of the white organization, Haibara nonetheless had a seat facing Elena's desk, slightly disoriented by the light beaming in from the windows.

"What are you drinking?" Haibara asked.

"Coffee."

"Hmm? I would've pegged you for more of a tea person."

"Why? Because I'm British?"

Haibara wasn't sure how to answer, or why she asked that question in the first place.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Haibara swallowed. "A-A while back, I..."

"Yes?"

"S-Somebody told me something. Information."

"Okay...?"

"It was on New Year's Day. Not this year, but last. You received a phone call then? About me?"

Elena thought about it for a second. "I did. It was what led to us finding out about your identity as Ai Haibara. But how did you know about that?"

"Who was that person? The one who called you."

"I don't know. He didn't give a name. He just called Line Zero and demanded to speak with me about my daughter. It was such an unusual and possibly alarming request that they patched him through to me. All I know was that the call was made from a sports stadium. The phone was thrown away shortly afterwards, after having been scrubbed of fingerprints."

Alright then, Haibara thought. It seems I was worrying over nothing.

"Who told you about that?" Elena asked. "I want to know."

It almost felt foolish now to Haibara: receiving confirmation about that one little thing, in exchange for putting herself in the compromising position that she was now in. She couldn't think of an answer, so...

"I'd prefer not to say."

"Now that's no fun at all. I talked, but you won't?"

"Can I go now?"

Elena sighed. "Well, you're the one who requested this appointment, so sure thing. It was nice talking to you again."

"Likewise."

Haibara got up and headed for the door when-

"Oh, and Shiho?"

Haibara stopped in her tracks and turned around.

Her mother smiled in such a warm fashion that would've taken her off guard, if not for having seen it during the recent vacation. Nonetheless, Elena's expression was still a lovely sight for sore eyes.

"You don't ever have to lie to me," Elena said. "Deep down, you know that we both want the same thing. You can tell me anything, at any time."

It was just about the strangest trigger, but Haibara's poker face just completely shattered. Her worsening internal conflict bubbled to the surface, escaping through her eyes.

Without saying another word she turned the doorknob and walked out of the room.

This visit was over.

Near one of the windows there was a potted plant. Elena stood up, walked over to it, and poured the rest of her coffee into its soil.

What's about to happen, she thought, the risk we're about to take with the lives of so many innocents...will Shiho forgive me?

 **Scene Transition**

They took a taxi to a huge indoor stadium, where tonight's performance was scheduled to take place.

Within seconds they were greeted by a man speaking in Chinese.

Zhaoyi responded to the man in Chinese.

Then Zhaoyi turned to the tourists under his care. "This man is Mr. Li Zhuoshu, founder and manager of the Zodiac Circus. He says he is pleased to have you here today."

"Can he speak English?" Dr. Agasa asked.

Zhaoyi turned to Zhuoshu and asked the question. Then Zhuoshu responded.

"He can," Zhaoyi confirmed. "Why? Do any of you know English?"

"Me and Conan-kun are fluent enough," he said. "But that's okay."

"I see. Anyways, Mr. Li will be happy to let you all meet the men and women who do their hardest to put on this show that he hopes you'll all get to enjoy tonight."

Zhaoyi said something else to Zhuoshu, who then responded in kind.

"I can tag along too," Zhaoyi said.

Thank goodness, Conan thought.

 **Scene Transition**

Zhuoshu said something in Chinese.

"And finally, this trailer is where the star of the show lives," Zhaoyi translated. "I'm sure you've all heard of Hangman Jing?"

"Hangman Jing," Ayumi repeated.

"Hangman Jing," Mitsuhiko repeated. "No, it doesn't sound familiar."

They shook their heads.

"He didn't perform in Tokyo," Zhaoyi explained, translating for Zhuoshu. "But you'll get the chance to see him in action tonight. His act is one-of-a-kind. There's nobody else like him on earth."

Zhuoshu, not waiting for Zhaoyi to finish, knocked on the door to the trailer. To the sound of women giggling, somebody angrily shouted something in response. Zhuoshu seemingly scolded the guy inside the trailer.

About a minute later, Jing Baosen (age 30) and four groupies emerged from the trailer.

Baosen said something.

"Hey now, surely these aren't those Japanese people who won that raffle?" Zhaoyi translated into Japanese.

"They are," Zhaoyi translated for Zhuoshu.

"Hmm, well, welcome to the circus then," he translated for Baosen. "I'm Hangman Jing, and tonight consider yourselves privileged because you'll be watching my 300th drop."

"Hmph, perhaps you should spend more time practicing and less time fooling around with girls," Zhaoyi translated for Fa Mingbi (age 33), a woman who was Baosen's manager.

"What's the matter, jealous that they're getting some of this and you're not?" Zhaoyi translated for Baosen, who raised his shirt and thumped his sick abs. "Correction, jealous that you're not getting some of this anymore."

"I think you should probably stop translating for them now," Dr. Agasa said to Zhaoyi.

"S-Sorry," Zhaoyi said. "But if they were speaking Japanese then you would've heard all that anyway, so..."

Baosen and Mingbi argued for a couple more seconds. Then Mingbi went her own way and Baosen retreated into his trailer alone, grumpy.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that," Zhaoyi translated for Zhuoshu. "But he really is the best performer we have. He's best doing his stunt since age 18 and the crowds have adored him ever since. We even have a nickname for him: The Prince."

"Pah, phooey," Zhaoyi translated for Wu Shangkun (age 24), a performer with slicked greased-up hair. "That guy's act is totally overrated. Now juggling sharp objects while pedaling for dear life, that's sexy. You know what they say: why have a motorcycle when you can have a unicycle?"

"Ah, I remember seeing him at the last show," Genta whispered to his young cohorts.

"I've literally never heard anybody say that," Zhaoyi translated for Mingbi.

"You still going on about that?" Zhaoyi translated for Zhuoshu. "With that kind of attitude you'll never be as popular as him, even if he were to die tomorrow. And put that cigarette out for goodness's sake. You know we don't allow that here."

Mumbling something under his breath, Shangkun began to walk away, throwing the cigarette in his mouth towards a public trash can and missing.

Sighing, Conan ran over, picked it up, and it in the trash where it belonged, fearing a fire hazard.

 **Scene Transition**

The tour having ended, they took their seats inside the stadium, which was beginning to fill up with people.

"Now I just have to know," the Professor said. "Does one of you by any chance know what Jing-san's big act is?"

"Oh man, you're all in for a treat," Zhaoyi said. "Hangman Jing is the big finale wherever he performs. They erect a gallows for him, like what they used to do for executions. Then they cuff his hands behind his back and blindfold him, and they place a noose around his neck. Then they pull a lever and the trapdoor gives way beneath him. Just like an actual hanging."

"And you mean to tell me he survives that?!" the Professor exclaimed.

"But of course. The moment that the lever's pulled, he does an impressive flip and latches on to the top of the rope with his legs, so that he keeps himself from falling and snapping his neck. Then he wiggles his way down to the very bottom of the rope, several feet below the platform, and brings his hands in front of him."

"Hold up a minute," Conan said. "How on earth could he manage that? The only way would be to bring them up above his head, right? But isn't that impossible?"

"For a normal person, yes," Zhaoyi said. "But not for Jing. He was born with a condition that gives him a greater array of possible joint movements, including what I just described. So once his hands are free, he takes the blindfold and noose off, grabs on to the rope, and lets go with his legs, so that he's just holding on with his hands. That's like the big climax, if you will. He waves to the cheering crowds, and then lets go, falling into the safety of the net set up below."

"That sounds like a lot of work," the Professor said.

Zhaoyi nodded. "It is. A normal person would probably just die. I can scarcely imagine how he could safely practice something like that. But they do take some precautions: I hear he's contract bound to retain a certain muscle mass percentage, and to never exceed 126 pounds at any time. Additionally, he only performs the trick for a live audience twice a month. I've only gotten to see it once. But I've never forgotten it: Jing is the only man on earth who could've outright survived an old-fashioned hanging."

They'd probably just behead him then, Conan thought with a deadpan look.

"But is it actually that dangerous?" the Professor wondered.

"Oh yeah," Zhaoyi said. "He could die any time he does this stunt. On some level, the cynic in me believes that's the reason so many people turn out to places like this when he performs. They want to see if this time is his last."

"But couldn't that be said of the Chinese circus in general?" Conan said with a shrug. "Many of the acts here are dangerous. Not just Jing-san's."

And then, the lights dimmed. The show was beginning.

 **Scene Transition**

The lights turned off on the three muscular men doing laps inside of hamster wheels, an act that was exactly as pointless as it may have sounded.

The guy over the loudspeaker said something in Chinese.

"This is the big finale," Zhaoyi translated.

"Alright!" Mitsuhiko said. "You mean we get to see Jing-san now?"

"Yeah," Zhaoyi said.

The stage lights shone upon a platform suspended well above the ground, where a gallows was set up. A skimpily dressed woman stood ready, with her hand on the lever that would drop the trap door.

Unfortunately, it seemed something was off. Jing Baosen was not there.

There began to emerge murmuring from the audience.

"I'm sure he'll be here in just a minute," Dr. Agasa said.

But one minute passed. Then two.

Finally, Conan got out of his seat and ran towards the exit. Having a good idea of what he was up to, the three Detective Boys got out of their seats and chased after him.

They went outside, circled around the building, and made it to Baosen's trailer, where Fa, Wu, and Li were standing at the door.

Li inserted a key and unlocked the door to the trailer. He swung it open and the three of them stepped inside.

Moments later-

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

At the sound of Mingbi's scream, Conan ran inside.

There lied Baosen on the floor, in a puddle of his own blood, lifeless.

 **Ending**

(In the Storm of my Mind by Sayuri)

On that day they trekked to the mouth of the great river

Leading the procession, the elder donning black vestments

His wrinkled face, an old, sad story etched into its creases

With a thousand yard stare, he uttered the old utterances

"Take to heart, ye of few days, what you have witnessed!"

His words carried no weight as we played quietly in the back

The years passed, and our style of play grew more refined

Anywhere, anytime, you were the only company I needed

But watching you gasp for air was a sudden slap in the face

It was from then that I could hear the crescendo of the bells

Trapped in the storm of my mind none can hear me scream

I know our bodies shall be threshed at the foot of the altar

And our ashes sprinkled on the lips of the grinning demon

This happy dream is naught but the vapors of a dying flame

I want to cherish these moments always, but I am reminded

The strongest among us must yield to the turning of the hour

Its ticking, like nails on a chalkboard, like cascading thunder

The stroke of midnight shall do us apart, forever and ever.

 **Next Conan's Hint: Dental Floss**


	2. Chapter 2

The lights turned off on the three muscular men doing laps inside of hamster wheels, an act that was exactly as pointless as it may have sounded.

The guy over the loudspeaker said something in Chinese.

"This is the big finale," Zhaoyi translated.

"Alright!" Mitsuhiko said. "You mean we get to see Jing-san now?"

"Yeah," Zhaoyi said.

The stage lights shone upon a platform suspended well above the ground, where a gallows was set up. A skimpily dressed woman stood ready, with her hand on the lever that would drop the trap door.

Unfortunately, it seemed something was off. Jing Baosen was not there.

There began to emerge murmuring from the audience.

"I'm sure he'll be here in just a minute," Dr. Agasa said.

But one minute passed. Then two.

Finally, Conan got out of his seat and ran towards the exit. Having a good idea of what he was up to, the three Detective Boys got out of their seats and chased after him.

They went outside, circled around the building, and made it to Baosen's trailer, where Fa, Wu, and Li were standing at the door.

Li inserted a key and unlocked the door to the trailer. He swung it open and the three of them stepped inside.

Moments later-

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

At the sound of Mingbi's scream, Conan ran inside.

There lied Baosen on the floor, in a puddle of his own blood, lifeless.

 **Opening**

(Angel Night by Psy-S, an opening to City Hunter, performed here by Garnet Crow)

(To act decisively is a prerequisite to victory! Seize the day or die trying! Shiro-kun flips the tables at long last, and the Men in Black spring into action, breaking the long peace! Are we in for the fight of our lives? Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is DETECTIVE CONAN!)

 _I_ _rumine shon mashita ni mioroshi_

 _Yoru wo nobotte ku ESCALATOR_

 _Kooritsuita BIRU no tanima wo_

 _HEADLIGHT no kawa ga nagareru_

 _Saisho ni suki ni natta no wa koe_

 _Sore kara senaka to totonoerareta yubisuki_

 _Tokidoki damarigachi ni naru kuse_

 _Dokoka e itte shimau kokoro to MELODY_

 _ANGEL VOICE na wo yonde mimi sumasu ECHO_

 _SHINING SMILE kaze ni chiru hanabira to KISS_

 _ANGEL VOICE atarashii natsukashii ECHO_

 _SHINING SMILE isogazu ni ari no mama KISS_

 **Black Mass! Part Two!**

The Hong Kong police arrived and the audience was told to go home. An exception, of course, was made by the Professor's group, being witnesses to the discovery of the body, and Zhaoyi, whose services as their translator were required now more than ever.

"My name is Chief Superintendent Michael Tsang. I have a couple of questions for you all."

 **Scene Transition**

"Yamamura-san, you're up."

Misato stood up and walked across the room to where the blank projector screen was behind him.

"As you all are aware, we're gathered here today because of the dispute over the comparative embryology diagrams on page 321 of the biology textbooks that this school received earlier in the semester. My position on the matter has already been made clear, and both sides have had a fair chance to make their voices heard, so now there's nothing left but to hold it up to a vote. All in favor of scrapping and replacing the lesson plan scheduled for next week with one from outside the textbook, with modified and more anatomically accurate diagrams of the respective material?"

Five people raised their hands.

"All against the proposal?"

The rest of them raised their hands.

Misato nodded. "Very well then. This school board has spoken."

Within minutes the meeting was dismissed.

Dang it, Yamamura thought, walking down the hallway (the students were having lunch at this time so it was rather empty and quiet).

Walking past the door to the cafeteria, he stopped and peered inside, staring at the many children contained within. In particular, three students sitting together (Nancy, Haibara, and Shiro) seemed to catch his attention.

 **Scene Transition**

The case details were as following:

The show started at 6:00. At 6:39, Jing Baosen realized that he left his handcuffs in his trailer, and a stagehand witnessed him leave to go retrieve those. He was not seen again after that; at 7:25, Baosen's act was about to start but he was nowhere to be found. Li Zhuoshu, Fa Mingbi, and Wu Shangkun therefore headed to Baosen's trailer. Zhuoshu knocked on the door first of all, to no answer; he then tried to open the door, but it was locked, so he took a key out of his pocket and unlocked it. It was then that Baosen's body (he had been stabbed to death) was discovered by the three of them, who had all entered the room, along with a Conan Edogawa, a young child who was part of a Japanese tour group which had won a raffle contest during a prior showing in Tokyo.

The three initial discoverers of the body did not have an alibi for c. 6:40. But:

"H-Hold on," Shangkun said. "Why are you questioning me? I couldn't have done it, right?"

"Huuh?"

Shangkun pointed to Mingbi and Zhuoshu. "They can attest to the fact that the door was locked. And later you found the key inside Jing's pocket. I had no opportunity to put it there, or to tamper with the body. They would've seen me do it, right?"

"So?"

"So, I didn't have a key to Jing's trailer!" Shangkun said. "He only gave one of those to people he was close with. Like his parents, or his boss (Zhuoshu), or his ex (Mingbi)."

"Hey now, don't start spreading rumors about me," Mingbi said.

"Oh please," Zhuoshu said. "Everybody knows you two were a couple for several weeks."

"Hmph, it wasn't like that," Mingbi said. "If I did break up with him after dating him, do you think I would've continued to work for him? That's exactly the kind of relationship dynamic that I'd prefer to avoid: when you terminate a romantic relationship with somebody there's a serious point of contention between the two of you that wouldn't have existed were you total strangers even. I don't do workplace drama. I just don't."

"You kept sneaking out of his cabin during the odd hours of night," Shangkun said.

"We were discussing business," Mingbi said. "During that time he was considering ditching his contract here to star in a documentary about himself that would've been shot in America. We went over all the particulars of what that would've looked like, until finally he decided against it."

"This is the first I've heard of something like that," Zhuoshu said.

"He didn't want to tell you unless he was sure that that was something he was going to do," Mingbi said. "Plus, he was afraid that you'd drag his a*s to court over his contract with you, which is a big part of why he didn't go through with it. Anyways, the meetings between us would often run pretty late, and he told me to sneak out quietly so as to not stir rumors. I can see that I didn't do a very good job at that."

"But you do have a key to his trailer?" Superintendent Tsang pressed.

Mingbi sighed. "Yes. I do have a key to his trailer."

"As do I," Zhuoshu admitted.

"And I don't," Shangkun said. "Which is why it couldn't have been me. Try that door for yourself: what you should find is that you can't lock it unless it's closed. If I was the killer and I was leaving, I would've required a key to lock the door after I stepped out of the trailer. But then I either would've had to use the one that was found on Jing's body, or lifted it from one of these two. And in case you don't know, I'm not an expert pickpocket. My area of mastery is juggling and riding unicycles. Which makes me pretty dang impressive, no doubt about that, but still."

"Ah-le-le?"

The weird babbling sounds indicative of curiosity on Conan's part were enough to turn their attention to the boy, who was up close to the door to the trailer.

Superintendent Tsang barked something at him.

"He wants you to get away from there," Zhaoyi said.

"But look closely," Conan said. "It looks like there's sticky residue right next to the keyhole. Right here. See?"

After Zhaoyi translated that, the Superintendent got in closer to inspect it.

"…He's right," the Superintendent said.

Conan stepped down from the trailer and went his own way.

"Oi, Conan, you know what's going on, don't you?" Mitsuhiko whispered.

"I have a theory. But that doesn't mean anything unless we can find that certain item."

"We?" Ayumi repeated with excitement.

"You mean we get to help you out this time?!" Genta said.

Conan nodded. "Yeah. What I'm looking for is…"

He signaled for them to lean in closer.

"Heh? Why are we whispering?" Mitsuhiko asked. "It's not like the culprit speaks Japanese."

"We don't want to be a bother to the investigation by being too loud," Conan explained softly. "Now listen closely. What we're looking for is…"

 **Scene Transition**

Superintendent Tsang turned to Zhuoshu and Mingbi. "Okay, I think that at this point we can safely narrow down the list of suspects to the two of you. Please accompany us to the police station and-

"H-Hold on!" Zhuoshu protested. "I didn't kill anybody! Much less the star attraction of my circus! What do you think I am, an idiot?! You think I wanna go out of business?"

"In that case, I can also say that I didn't do it!" Mingbi said. "If Baosen died, I'd be out of work!"

The two of them looked at Shangkun.

Shangkun shrugged. "Sure, I had motive. But I couldn't have done it, so-

"Let's not be so quick to rule suspects out, Superintendent."

Zhaoyi translated this for Dr. Agasa.

Behind the Professor Conan was standing with the voice-changing bowtie in hand. Accordingly, the Professor was standing with the trailer wall right behind him, so nobody could get a good look at Conan.

"I know exactly who did this," Conan/the Professor said. "And I know what trick they used to pull it off."

"T-Trick?!" Baosen protested. "What on earth are you talking about? We know how it was done."

"No, no. Nothing about the prevailing narrative seems right at all. First of all, the question must be raised: why would the culprit lock the door behind his or her self?"

"Because he didn't want the body to be discovered yet, duh," Shangkun said.

"And what benefit would he derive from that?" Conan/the Professor asked. "If it was Fa-san or Li-san, surely they''d know that locking the door would make them one of only two suspects. It just seems like an incredibly stupid move to me. If I wanted somebody dead, that certainly isn't what I would do. Or if I did, I'd at least take the key from Jing-san's pocket so that it'd look like anybody could've done it. No, the door was deliberately locked so that those two people alone would be suspected, taking pressure off of the actual killer. Wu-san..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you think I did it," Shangkun said derisively. "In that case, why don't you tell us how?"

"Gladly. _Oi_ , I'm ready! You can show it to the Superintendent now!"

" _Haaaai_!"

And with that, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Genta came out holding a pack of dental floss, and a pack of high-end glue. To grab and handle these, of course, they were using disposable napkins that they took from the bathroom in the stadium so as to not disturb the evidence.

"We weren't able to find the knife," Mitsuhiko said. "Sorry."

"That's quite alright," the Superintendent said. "My men should be able to find it soon enough. I'm confident in them."

Realizing that this middle-aged fat man with white hippie hair and a bulbous nose had seen through his trick, Shangkun cringed.

"Here's what happened," Conan/the Professor said. "As we know, Jing-san returned to his trailer to retrieve his handcuffs, which I imagine he'd been using to instigate certain sexual scenarios with his willing female fans. As he entered, he didn't bother to lock the door behind him, as he was still inside and as his business there would only take a minute. Wu-san was easily able to enter the trailer and kill Jing-san with a knife. Then he took the key from Jing-san's pocket and set up his trick. Take a quick look at the door to the trailer: what kind of lock do you think that is?"

The Superintendent shrugged. "I don't know. A regular lock with a key, right?"

"Correct. More specifically, that's what's called a pin tumbler lock. There is a line with which a row of vertical metal bars must all line up with for the lock to be turned, though each bar is of a different length. The grooves on the key are each of such a length that they correspond with each bar; when their height's boosted by the key grooves, each bar does succeed in lining up with the line, and hence the lock can be turned. Wu-san first cut a strip of dental floss and put it on the key, so as to align with the grooves. It was thin enough that it did not throw the bars out of alignment when the key was applied. At the end of the strip he applied a layer of superglue. Subsequently, when he inserted the key and pressed it against the other end, he was then able to remove it, and the floss remained intact, and in the proper shape required to hold up the bars so that they aligned. His hand was shaky when first inserting the key, which is why traces of glue were found on the outside of the keyhole. He returned the key to Jing-san's pocket and then used the makeshift 'floss key' to turn the lock, and thus lock the door behind him. Superintendent, if you're looking for evidence, you should find Wu-san's fingerprints on the pack of floss and pack of glue."

The Detective Boys turned in their evidence to a nearby officer, who bagged it and ran off to have it analyzed accordingly.

The Superintendent turned to Shangkun. "I have a feeling that the method described is exactly what happened, so why don't you confess now and save us the trouble?"

Shangkun shook his head. "Screw you all! You'll never catch me alive!"

He made a dash several yards away to the unicycle that was parked against a wall, and he climbed on it, beginning to pedal away to make his big escape.

"So long suckers!" he called out behind him as he pedaled.

Unfortunately, he wasn't very fast on it, and two officers caught up with him and tackled him to the ground.

And that was that.

 **Scene Transitio**

 **Nine Days Later**

It had been a fun trip to Hong Kong. They didn't get to do everything that they might've wanted, but they left satisfied. They quickly resumed the mundane routine of elementary school students.

*rrrrrriiiing*

"Alright, see you tomorrow!" Mitsuhiko waved to Conan and Nancy.

"…You never told me what you did," Conan said.

"Hmm?"

"While we were in Hong Kong."

"Not much," Nancy said. "I helped this boy with his homework and stuff."

"Oh?"

"Why? Are you jealous?"

"Depends. How old was he?"

"Eleven, I think."

"Ah. Okay then. Again, I'm sorry you didn't get to go."

"That's okay. As long as by next time I'm able to get a passport."

"Oh? How do you know there'll be a next time?"

"Please. There's always a next time."

Conan laughed. "Alright then. We'll just have to see how that goes. By the way, about that phone cover I brought back for you…"

"Right. The one that you 'picked out specifically with me in mind'. If only that were true, then I wouldn't have seen Ai-chan walking around with the exact same one, now would I?"

Busted, Conan thought. "I still paid for it though, so maybe you could give it a try?"

"Nope," Nancy said. "It wasn't a heartfelt gift if you bought it for another girl too. Ai-chan's using hers so that means I won't be using mine. You can give it to one of the kids. I haven't even taken it out of the wrapping, and I'm sure Ayumi-chan would appreciate it."

"W-Well, it's not like I can return it now!"

"You should've thought of that then. Besides, I didn't like it."

"Really? It's got _A Better Tomorrow_ on it. We watched it a long time ago and agreed that it was a pretty good movie."

"Yeah, but you got a gift that you thought you'd like. Couldn't you have gotten, say, a cover displaying the nighttime landscape of Hong Kong?"

"If I saw anything like that then you can be sure I would've bought it instead…Who are you texting?"

"Sonoko," Nancy answered. "She's been put in charge of planning the after-graduation party."

"Oh, that's nic—wait, the WHAT?!"

"Yeah. She and a bunch of our classmates will be graduating in about a month and a half."

"B-But that is—that means…"

"She'll be finished with high school."

There was a pause.

"Time's passing us by, isn't it?" Nancy said with a sad smile. "We're falling farther and farther behind our old friends. We've missed out on enough school that even if we were to resume our old lives immediately, chances are slim to none that we could graduate alongside them. I'd be held back a year, maybe two years for you. Of course, what I'm describing's' not going to happen."

"Ran…"

"One day, Makoto-san's going to propose to Sonoko. Then they'll start building a home and a family. And all the while I'll be here repeating middle school..."

"I'm...I'm sorry, Ran..."

She shook her head. "No. None of this is your fault. Say it."

"Huh?"

"Say it. Tell me whose fault it is."

"..."

"All this is the Men in Black's fault. Say it."

"This is the fault of the Men in Black."

"And not your own. Say it."

"...And not my own."

She put her hand on his face above his cheek. "I love you. You know that?"

He nodded, not looking up.

She let her hand stay there for a couple of seconds, until:

Conan's phone rang.

It was Elena.

"Yes?"

"I need you to come down to my office as soon as possible. Is now a good time?"

Conan nodded. "Yeah, now will work. Why?"

"I'll tell you as soon as you get there. Suffice to say, it's a matter of utmost importance."

"Understood. Have one of your people come by with a car to pick me up. I'll be waiting outside the Mouri Residency."

He hung up.

"Elena-san?"

"Yeah."

"What does she want?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Conan said. "But I think I have an idea."

 **Ending**

(In the Storm of my Mind by Sayuri)

On that day they trekked to the mouth of the great river

Leading the procession, the elder donning black vestments

His wrinkled face, an old, sad story etched into its creases

With a thousand yard stare, he uttered the old utterances

"Take to heart, ye of few days, what you have witnessed!"

His words carried no weight as we played quietly in the back

The years passed, and our style of play grew more refined

Anywhere, anytime, you were the only company I needed

But watching you gasp for air was a sudden slap in the face

It was from then that I could hear the crescendo of the bells

Trapped in the storm of my mind none can hear me scream

I know our bodies shall be threshed at the foot of the altar

And our ashes sprinkled on the lips of the grinning demon

This happy dream is naught but the vapors of a dying flame

I want to cherish these moments always, but I am reminded

The strongest among us must yield to the turning of the hour

Its ticking, like nails on a chalkboard, like cascading thunder

The stroke of midnight shall do us apart, forever and ever.

" _Se vuol ballare, signor contino; Se vuol ballare, signor contino; Il chitarrino le suonero; Il chitarrino le suonero..._ "

Holding a wipe, Gin set about cleaning his disassembled bolt-action rifle. It was a pointless habit that served to relax him and pass the time. Shinichi Kudo had handled the latest contingency in Hong Kong, so there wasn't a whole lot left for him to do.

He was in a garage, inundated with the smell of dirty car parts and oil. Just the way he liked it. Among a lot of his peers there was the perception that all he enjoyed doing was killing. That simply wasn't true; had his life turned out differently he might have been an auto-mechanic. He never had a dad to teach him how to work on vehicles, so he taught himself. He frequently did maintenance on the black Porsche that he was known to get around town in, and he even restored to near-pristine condition a broken-down motorcycle that he took from a scrapyard.

A number of months ago he used that motorcycle for a big chase. Who he was after or why were things that he just could not recall, though his associates were fortunately able to fill in a few details of the incident for him. He was chasing Kudo, disguised as Sherry, something that happened shortly before his superiors suddenly ordered him to recruit Kudo for the Organization's benefit.

And for whatever reason he remembered a graveyard. That had something to do with it, he just knew. He couldn't remember where that graveyard was, though there was one relatively close by the place where he was temporarily killed on that day.

As soon as he remembered this detail he checked it out; Akemi Miyano, Sherry's older sister and a woman who he killed, was buried there. The day that the chase happened was the late Akemi's birthday, so from that Gin was able to piece together what happened.

The very next day after this visit, he was scolded by his superiors, who ordered him to stay away from there. It could ruin some big plan that they had.

As of sixteen hours ago, he (along with a number of his fellow codenamed agents) had been briefed on the nature of that plan. As fate so had it, this plan involved Akemi Miyano's body.

But this plan had been in motion for a good while now. And the key development had yet to take place. Could they trust their man to do his duty? If so, how much longer would they have to wait?

Well, he thought, it's not likely that that thing will be happen tonight, unless-

*door slamming open*

" _Aniki_ , we've got movement!"

Only granting himself two seconds to process Vodka's announcement, Gin stood up. "Let's roll."

He re-assembled his gun in less than ten seconds and then followed Vodka through the open door elsewhere.

 **Scene Transition**

Inside the dimly lit parking garage, the two cars pulled up right next to each other, and lowered their windows.

"Give it to us straight," Chianti said.

"The body is moving unusually fast," Tequila said. "She's probably being transported by helicopter."

"So what you're saying is, we won't be able to catch them?" Calvados asked.

"Calm down," Gin said, lighting another cigarette and tossing his discarded one in the ashtray. "That tracker we've embedded uses GPS. Even if they took her to the North Pole, it wouldn't matter."

"Ah? It stopped moving!" Vodka announced.

"How observant of you," Tequila said with a hint of disdain. "Whelp, the location appears to be in Beika."

Hmm, everything big seems to be happening in that general area these days, Gin thought.

"I'm drawing up the respective building plans now," Tequila said. "The place to which our pretty little Trojan horse was taken is a tall skyscraper with a helipad on the roof. It was built and owned by..."

"Yes?"

"The Suzuki Corporation," Tequila finished, surprised.

"Huh? Why would they be involved with our enemies?" Vodka asked. " _Aniki_ , didn't you tell me that-

"Yeah, our employers were founded by a member of the Suzuki family," Gin said. "Call the Boss. If we're really doing this here and now, the five of us clearly won't be enough. Have them deploy in the Janissaries."

 **Scene Transition**

The two vehicles were parked on a hill from which the skyscraper, the so-called Kirie Building, named in honor of Sonoko and Ayako's paternal aunt who died in infancy a long time ago, could be seen in the distance, illuminated by the extensive artificial lighting that disturbed the night across Tokyo.

"The Janissaries have mobilized and will be here shortly," Vodka reported.

" _Oi_ , who are the Janissaries?" Chianti asked impatiently.

"As far as I've heard, they're the elite units," Tequila said. "Or, more specifically, soldiers. The actual militant wing of the Organization, whenever a few guys working in the shadows just isn't enough and whenever they're not afraid to make a lot of noise."

"What do you think, _Aniki_?" Vodka asked.

"...I think they're a bunch of nuts," Gin said.

No, that's not quite accurate, he thought. Our employers themselves are nuts. There's no point founding a criminal empire or guerrilla force unless you're after money, power, or notoriety. Building an army to fight your wars in the name of one's God is madness. I cannot conceive of an entity which would demand such bloodshed in his name, unless he be a coldblooded and brilliantly ruthless person, a human being. I'm knee-deep in a cult. Which is fine by me, so long as at the end of the day I keep getting what I want. But still, these people, these so-called Janissaries, they're not swayed by rational human interest. They're illogical. And that makes them the most dangerous kind of adversary there is. I'm just glad that they're on our side.

They heard something resembling a sonic boom.

"It's starting," Gin said.

He opened the door and stepped out of the car. His associates did likewise.

"Any second now that building will be swimming with our guys. An intense firefight will ensue. But we need to be there to oversee the operation, to make sure they don't kill key persons or damage invaluable assets."

"I don't see any cars," Calvados said. "What do you mean that they're already here?"

"Look over there," Gin said. "And up. The first batch of our people are coming down. Parachuted in, so as to provide as little response time to the enemy as possible. The first of them will most likely be landing on the roof, to ensure that the enemy can't escape the same way they came. Let's go."

They all got out of the vehicles and headed towards the enemy stronghold.

 **Ten Minutes Later**

"I had no idea," Chianti said in amazement.

It wasn't just a tower: it was an extensive headquarters for an obviously complex operation. Stacks and stacks of paperwork were left at their desks. There were shower rooms, hazmat decontamination rooms, prison cells, interrogation rooms, a living quarters for a small family, large stores of vacuum-sealed rations and bottled water, a sizable arsenal of military-grade rifles and countless rounds of ammunition, laboratories, a computer room, and a multitude of camera rooms monitoring untold hundreds of spots distributed across Japan (and perhaps even elsewhere). And more.

And it was all now in the hands of the Black Organization; the Janissaries had burst in just to find the building totally vacant. All the lights were off, even.

Gin held the walkie-talkie up to his face. "Progress report."

*brrrrzh* "We've yet to locate Akemi Miyano's body. Over."

"...Hey, _Aniki_ , didn't this all seem a little too easy?" Vodka said apprehensively and with a hushed voice.

"What are you talking about, man?!" Calvados said with an obvious excitement in his voice. "This is one h*ll of a victory for our team!"

"Yeah, but they evidently knew we were coming," Tequila said.

Something's very wrong here, Gin thought, trying to keep his body from trembling in nervous anticipation. Now, if I were to die here then there'd be two requirements for my revival later: First, that my body be recovered by our side. Second, that I remain in one piece, not charred to a crisp.

He looked out the window.

"Yo, Vodka," he said. "This is the sixth story, isn't it?"

"Y-Yeah, I think so."

That shouldn't be enough to annihilate my remains, Gin thought. So with that in mind...

WITH THAT IN MIND...!

Meanwhile, walking up to the same hill where those two vehicles were parked overlooking the Kirie Building, Elena ate a toffee bar in one hand while holding a detonator in the other.

Confident that Gin was inside, she took one last good look at her former headquarters, to savor this moment.

And then she said:

"Die, motherf**ker."

And with that, she pulled the trigger.

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


	3. Chapter 3

_As the fires continued to rage outside even after several hours, Higo/Rum sat inside the safety of the tank he'd freshly stolen, sheltered beneath the ceiling of an abandoned mine up north in Hokkaido._

 _"Yeah, they licked us pretty bad this time," Higo said into the phone. "Not sure how much longer before they come after me again, until they find out about this little hideout of mine. For what it's worth, I'm sorry that I botched this job."_

 _"...No. It's not over yet," Yoko said. "Rum, I have new orders for you."_

 _"I'm listening."_

 _"The person dispatched to rescue you is Shinichi Kudo."_

 _"Agent Cognac, you mean?"_

 _"Yeah."_

 _"That's, um, I don't think that's a very good call, to be perfectly honest."_

 _"No, it's an excellent call. You ought to have a little faith in me. You see, there is a very good chance that Kudo is working for our enemies. I suspect that when he comes, he'll try to lure you out of the cave. At that point, his people will be waiting. They'll try to either kill you or capture you, but I suspect the latter due to the intelligence value you hold. Here are my orders: when Kudo comes, surrender to him immediately. Tell him you want to defect, that you're tired of killing for the Organization."_

 _"And if he insists that he's on our side?"_

 _"Then rush out of the cave yourself and hand yourself over to them."_

 _"And if nobody's waiting on the other side?"_

 _"Then we'll have reason to believe that Kudo is not a traitor, meaning we'll be able to trust him with more important assignments. And if he reports your behavior, I'll clear your good name with the Council and explain to them what your orders from me were._ _If he is working undercover for our enemies, they're going to want to keep up the ruse for as long as possible. They'll likely have a voice-in representing you on the phone, until they get back to Tokyo. As for what they do after that, well, I'm not such a deep thinker as to have a clear view of the future."_

 _"But I'm going to give them a way out," Yoko continued. "After they bring you in, I'll order Kudo to see you killed. I'll select the meeting place, and it'll look to him like he's ambushing you."_

 _"You're going to kill me?"_

 _"Kudo is, yeah. But because of your intelligence value, they'll be sure to revive you."_

 _"H-Huh...? You mean to say that they...?"_

 _"Yeah, I'm almost certain that they've gotten their hands on it too. ELXR-0666. We have no clue how much prototype data of the apotoxin and the Elixir Sherry managed to copy and take with her whenever she defected. But whatever it is, it's doubtlessly lying in the laps of our enemies now. Even if not, it's likely that they have other spies working in our midst who managed to steal that data. Additionally, I had Mezcal test the cremated remains of Ran Mouri, who was Kudo's now-deceased girlfriend."_

 _"Huuuh?"_

 _"They don't match DNA samples of her that we recovered from elsewhere. It could be a fluke, or it could mean that they took Ran's body before she died and cremated somebody else in her stead. It could mean that they've already revived her using the Elixir and they're holding her somewhere as leverage against Kudo, to make him do what they say."_

 _"So what you're saying is...?"_

 _"If Kudo kills you, our enemies will see that you're revived," Yoko said. "Even if Kudo's not one of them, now that they know who you are they'll find your body, one way or another. Especially if we make that information public. If they have the apotoxin, there's a good chance that they'll use it on you, so that it'll be easier for them to hide you. We already have pictures of you as a child, so it shouldn't be too much trouble for us to spot you out of a crowd of children. We'll try to make contact with you whenever we can. However, what I want is for you to gain their trust. Make them believe that your wish to defect is genuine. When you think the time is right, tell them that you must speak with Akemi Miyano. Make up any excuse. When they dig her up, they'll likely bring her to their base of operations. We'll have a tracking device implanted in her body, and then we'll take them all out in one fell sw-_

 _"There's one gigantic problem with your plan," Higo interrupted. "If they kill me and then revive me, I'm not going to remember s**t from the two weeks prior. In that case, there's no way that I'd remember everything that you're ordering me to do now. Unless you wait two weeks before telling Kudo to-_

 _"That's the beauty of it. We won't have to wait at all. In fact, doing this as quickly as possible is key to fooling them."_

 _"I don't follow."_

 _"Mezcal's devised a little something for us," Yoko said. "We call it the Tandem Drug. If used shortly before death, and provided that too much time afterwards does not elapse, upon ingestion of the Elixir you will find that you remember everything."_

 _"But they won't know that," Higo finished. "And so they'll believe that since I don't remember anything, I won't know whether I really defected or not. And therefore I'd have reason to not try to escape from them."_

 _"You catch on well."_

 _"There's just one more problem," Higo said. "At what point would I have an opportunity to take that drug?"  
_

 _"We'll have a guy waiting for you at the place where Kudo will be ordered to kill you. He'll brush your shoulder and quietly slip the drug into your hands. It dissolves in the mouth so you won't need to take it with water or anything like that."_

 _Higo grinned. "Alright then. Give Mezcal my thanks for being the genius that he is."_

 _"I'll be sure to do that. Good luck, Rum. And I expect you to carry out your duties."_

 _"Understood!"_

 _And then Yoko hung up on him, leaving him to await Shinichi's arrival._

 **Opening**

(Angel Night by Psy-S, an opening to City Hunter, performed here by Garnet Crow)

(To act decisively is a prerequisite to victory! Seize the day or die trying! Shiro-kun flips the tables at long last, and the Men in Black spring into action, breaking the long peace! Are we in for the fight of our lives? Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is DETECTIVE CONAN!)

 _I_ _rumine shon mashita ni mioroshi_

 _Yoru wo nobotte ku ESCALATOR_

 _Kooritsuita BIRU no tanima wo_

 _HEADLIGHT no kawa ga nagareru_

 _Saisho ni suki ni natta no wa koe_

 _Sore kara senaka to totonoerareta yubisuki_

 _Tokidoki damarigachi ni naru kuse_

 _Dokoka e itte shimau kokoro to MELODY_

 _ANGEL VOICE na wo yonde mimi sumasu ECHO_

 _SHINING SMILE kaze ni chiru hanabira to KISS_

 _ANGEL VOICE atarashii natsukashii ECHO_

 _SHINING SMILE isogazu ni ari no mama KISS_

 **Black Mass! Part Three!**

The substitute teacher for the day, Misato Yamamura, paced the classroom.

"Can anybody tell me what DNA stands for?" he asked.

He looked around. "Anybody?"

The he pointed to Haibara. 'You look like a smart girl. I'll bet you know."

" _Deoxyribonucleic_ _Acid_ ," Haibara said.

He nodded. "DNA is an acid. Like the stuff in oranges and lemons, or the acid that your stomach produces to digest food. Now, we don't think of orange juice as the building block to life, do we?"

*laughter*

"DNA, simply put, is what you get when you combine four basic ingredients: Cytosine, Adenine, Thymine, and Guanine. Or as we like to shorten it, C A T and G. They go one after another in a highly repetitive sequence, which we call nucleotides. In genetics we represent nucleotides by writing up long strings of letters. The human genome contains about 3 billion letters, just different combinations of the same 4 letters over and over again. To the untrained observer it just looks like gibberish, but it's not gibberish. It's information."

"But what is information?" Misato continued. "Information is when something that otherwise would be mere gibberish is useful in some way for living creatures. In theory, there is no difference whatsoever between the long strings of nucleotides which help create and sustain the human body and me banging random letters into a keyboard. Because information is entirely a manmade concept. It is an idea that we've thought up to serve our own purposes."

And on and on he went.

All the while, Conan kept staring at the window and the two classroom doors.

 **Scene Transition**

Torishima blew his whistle. And with that, the two teams began pulling backwards in an effort to overcome the other.

" _Oi_ , Conan, what the heck you doing?" Genta whispered. "Don't just hold on like a limp noodle! Pull!"

In response, Conan began asserting himself a little bit more, but he kept his eyes on the gym doors.

 **Scene Transition**

It was a little quieter than usual in the cafeteria. On the far corner of the cafeteria, Yasuda was mopping.

" _Neh_ , did you hear about that explosion last night?" Ayumi said to Mitsuhiko, a little apprehensive.

"Yeah, they said it was a controlled demolition," Mitsuhiko said. "Nothing to worry about."

"Hey, Conan," Genta whispered. "If you're not going to eat that mozzarella stick, can I...Conan! Are you listening?"

"Huh?"

"Geez, you've been like this all day," Genta said.

Conan sighed. "Sorry. I don't feel like talking today. You can have whatever's on my plate. I'm not hungry."

*crash*

Somebody dropped their tray.

Conan's eyes shot left and right frantically. He looked down at his bag, and put his hand on the zipper, all the while trying to keep his hand from trembling.

Something's wrong, Ayumi thought. "Conan-kun, Nancy-chan...does either of you know where Ai-chan and Shiro-kun are?"

"They're...going away for a little while," Nancy said, looking somewhat depressed and not looking up.

"Conan, you must've really pushed yourself in PE today," Genta said, pointing to the large beads of sweat protruding from the shrunken detective's forehead.

If anybody dies, Conan thought, looking around the room full of eager schoolchildren, it'll be on me. Shiro...I brought him here. This is all on me. This is my fault. I have to be ready to protect all of them, with my life if need be. Because if I don't, then that makes me unforgivable.

He was startled to see Nancy put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'll be here the rest of the day," she said softly. "We can go to the nurse's office and get you permission to go home. Leave the rest to me. Just for today. How does that sound?"

"...No," he said.

"Yeah, Conan, you don't look well at all," Mitsuhiko said. "Go home. I'll share today's class notes with you later if you want them."

"Excuse me," he said, getting up, intent on heading to the bathroom to clear his head.

He grabbed his backpack and walked to the sliding cafeteria door when-

The door slid open, revealing a tall figure in camouflaged pants. He looked up and-

*wham*

*thud*

As Conan began to lose consciousness (having been hit by the butt of a rifle), he heard the terrified screaming of over a few hundred children all at once.

Deafeningly loud gunshots were fired.

No...he thought, before everything turned to black.

 **Scene Transition**

 _Haibara regained consciousness to the sound of people talking elsewhere in the house._

 _Who could that be? she thought. What time is it...? Should I be getting up for school?_

 _*creak*_

 _*step step step*_

 _*crinkle*_

 _Somebody sat down on her bed. The person was clearly an adult, based on their weight. A strangely comforting feeling._

 _Haibara turned her head and looked up._

 _"Mom?"_

 _"Good morning, sleepy head."_

 _Haibara sat up. As it turned out, Shiro was standing two feet from the bed._

 _"What's going on?"_

 _Silence._

 _And then:_

 _"Ai-chan, please don't be upset with me," Shiro said._

 _He...told? Haibara thought, her heart beginning to race._

 _She turned to Elena. "Mom, what did you do?"_

 _"My job," Elena said._

 _Haibara got out of bed and stood up abruptly. Shiro took a step back._

 _She came toward him. "You son of a B**CH! You promised me! You said that you wouldn't tell anyone about-_

 _"About Mezcal?" Elena finished. "He didn't tell us about that. We already knew."_

 _H-huh...?_

 _Elena faced toward the door. "Remember when we asked you those questions? In that other room, where you were sitting on that recliner. We asked you questions about the faculty at your school. We went through a list of each person employed there. For each person on that list, we asked, 'Is this person Mezcal?' If not with those words, then with that effect."_

 _"The truth is, you were sitting on a polygraph device embedded in the furniture," Shiro said. "When you answered for That Person, it registered your response as being untruthful."_

 _Haibara could barely believe what she was hearing. They'd been lying to her all this time, playing her for a fool, using her when it suited her fancy and disrespecting simple boundaries._

 _"Was the Professor...and Edogawa-kun...?"_

 _"They were both in on it, yes," Elena said. "We apologize for the fact that deception was necessary, but we knew that you wouldn't cooperate of your own volition, for understandable reasons."  
_

 _"Ai-chan, that's not what this is about," Shiro said. "I told them other things, things that I haven't clued you in on. Things that I've been hiding."_

 _"It's about your sister," Elena said._

 _S-Sis? Haibara thought._

 _Expecting the worse, she first calmed herself, realizing that she couldn't lose somebody who was already long gone. What news about her sister did Shiro have?_

 _"I was ordered to use her as bait," Shiro said. "By the Boss herself. To get to your mother, to the heart of the White Organization's operations. And for a long time, my intentions were to carry out those orders. But now..."_

 _He shook his head and smiled sadly. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't make you lose your family. Not again. I am so, so sorry, that I've been lying to you for all this time..."_

 _"Well if you ask me he's giving himself far too little credit," Elena said. "Shiro told us nearly a month ago. But we had to wait for the right time. That opportunity came yesterday, when a number of the Organization's operatives were briefed on that plan. Among them was Rei-kun, who immediately informed us, giving us the green light to use the Organization's plan against them. We lost our headquarters, but...a building is just a building. Many of the Organization's remaining members were in that building, Gin included. We rigged it with C-4, set off by a remote detonator. It was a spectacular sight."_

 _"You did WHAT?!" Haibara exploded._

 _"Hmm?"_

 _"Do you have ANY idea what's going to happen next?!" Haibara said, her eyes tearing up. "Do you have ANY idea?! They've been checking out Shiro-kun all this time. They're going to know he sold them out. And they'll be out for revenge! They're not going to show any mercy to..."_

 _"I...I have to get down there," Haibara realized. "I have to warn them. They'll all be sitting ducks. Hundreds of kids in that school...Mitsuhiko-kun, Genta-kun, Ayumi-chan...they're all going to be..."_

 _She pushed Shiro aside and made a mad dash for the door._

 _"Stop her!" Elena shouted._

 _As soon as Haibara emerged in the hallway, she found herself being lifted up._

 _The Professor grabbed her as one would grab a hostage, though of course his intent was not to kill or threaten her._

 _"NO! NO! NO! NO! YOU CAN"T DO THIS! NO! YOU CAN"T!"_

 _"Somebody back me up here!" Dr. Agasa shouted._

 _Satoshi came running. "Hold this over her face."_

 _Hardly having time to process that even her own brother had turned against her, Shiho/Haibara squirmed like crazy as the Professor applied the chloroform-soaked rag to her face._

 _"Shh shh shh," the Professor said as she began to pass out. "I'm sorry, Ai-kun."_

 _As soon as she was down and out, Atsushi walked up to the Professor. "I'll take it from here."_

 _The Professor handed her limp body to her father, who propped her on his shoulders and gave her a piggyback ride to the couch in the living room, proceeding to lay her down gently._

 _He turned to his wife, whose pained expression he took quick note of. "She's not wrong, you know. Surely you have a plan, to protect those kids whose lives we're endangering."_

 _"No."_

 _"Huuh?"_

 _"No, I don't have a plan," Elena admitted. "If an attack comes today, our response will have to be reactive in nature. Notify all of our people. All hell's about to break loose."_

 **Scene Transition**

From antiquity there has been engrained into the popular mythos of nations, great and small alike, the notion that we live in an age far-removed from a better world that was. At one pivotal moment, those things undesirable, those ugly things which brought tarnish and tear to the beautiful, were introduced to creation like an invasive species or a plague.

Being the thinking creature that he is, and what more a morally cognizant one, a grown man understands that the world around him is not all that it could be. To believe that perfection was once the regular state of affairs allows him to justify the notion that a better tomorrow is possible, since what was once the norm might one day become the norm once more. A "broken" world can be fixed, a "corrupted" world restored. If what exists now is an aberration of nature, then there is reason to be hopeful.

Regardless of whether the old stories are true or not, it is universally agreed that we can and ought to do better than what we see around us today, even if we disagree on the exact details of what kinds of changes are needed. Everyone, save the extreme optimist, will find something to be dissatisfied about.

There are things, however, that we can all agree are abominable: civil war, famine, crime, genocide, sexual abuse. School shootings. Violence against children. Any reasonable person should dream of a world where all of these things are but the relics of a nigh-forgotten and damnable past. Nonetheless, these things are with us still, and we should understand why.

Whether such has always been the case or whether we have indeed fallen from a former glory, human beings are selfish to the core. It is debatable to the extent that altruism is even possible. The best we can hope for is to fulfill ourselves in such a way that other people benefit. People who accomplish this are held up as "heroes", because we abide by a standard of justice where actions and outcomes are judged rather than intent. To judge solely the intent behind an action, and to dig deep to the true foundations of an action's intent, would serve to strip away the accomplishments of a hero one hundred percent of the time. Even if that dignity is not based in fact, it is good that we can hold ourselves up if we live up to the expectations of a society that believes in those higher values, because it is good that man should acknowledge that in some way he is of a higher worth than the beasts with which we cohabit this planet, because it is good to believe that we ourselves are not totally corrupt.

But it is often the case that we come to hold desires whose fulfillment would yield outcomes contrary to the good of others. To some degree or another we all face choices like this, but some desires would have more extreme consequences than others. Statistically, some percentage of this planet's 7 billion selfish human beings is going to choose self-gratification in spite of the extreme cost when presented with such a choice. In spite of the suffering that they inflict. In spite of the death toll.

The modes by which immoral actions yield gratification are diverse, but typical motivators are money, comfort, fame, power, prestige, thrills, infamy, and revenge. These motivations transcend the boundaries of time and space; Herostratus, a man living in the 4th century BC who burned down one of the Seven Wonders, wanted the same thing that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold wanted for themselves in April 1999 whenever they entered Columbine High School with the intent of murdering their classmates.

But at the end of the day, what matters is not the motivation behind a shooting, but the suffering of its victims. Those suffer who are deprived of further mortal existence against their will and those suffer who are forced to watch other people die, and who are made to legitimately fear for their own lives in a moment of extreme uncertainty. For every student in a school where a shooter is in the building, no two people suffer in the exact same way. The perspectives are myriad; in a school the size of Teitan Primary School, that number can be chalked up to hundreds.

When ten armed men entered that cafeteria and began firing rounds into the ceiling, and barking orders, chaos ensued. But as all the means of escape were blocked off, the frightened and helpless children were quickly forced to submit.

Fortunately, on that day their assailants did not seem intent to take lives, but rather hostages, and so far no one had been hurt save Conan, who'd only been knocked unconscious.

The students were made to sit back down at the tables, whereas the lunch-ladies were forced to come out from the kitchen and get down on the ground with their hands behind their head. Yasuda was likewise forced to lie down right next to them with his hands behind his head. A burly woman in a black mask and militaresque garb, evidently the ringleader, paced across the rows of tables inspecting the hostages.

And then:

"LISTEN UP, maggots!" she boomed. "If anyone tries to run or otherwise resist we will not hesitate to shoot you dead on the spot! If we catch anyone on their phones there will be punishment! My men will make their rounds holding buckets. You will each place your cell phone in the bucket. If you do not do as you are told, there will be punishment! Do I make myself clear?!"

A bunch of the students nodded.

Across the room, a large number of students, male and female alike, were crying, and their friends and siblings were trying to comfort them, if only to prevent the threatened retaliation.

The Detective Boys and Nancy were seated at the same table, as was Conan, who at this point was still unconscious and slumped against the table.

For the umpteenth time Ayumi shook him.

Nancy shook her head. "I-It's no use..."

"Huh?" Mitsuhiko said. "Nancy-chan, do you know something that we don't?"

She nodded. "He was buttstroked, which is an army technique designed to kill an opponent at close quarter. This was done by an adult against a child, making it especially deadly."

"D-Deadly?!" Genta exclaimed. "You mean to say that Conan's-

And then Conan began to stir, to their surprise.

At that moment, one of the assailants holding a bucket passed by. At Nancy's prodding they removed their phones and put them in the bucket. Nancy took the phone out of Conan's pocket and did likewise.

Nancy was about to whisper in Conan's ear, but then he sat up with a jolt.

He looked around frantically.

"Geez, don't scare us like that!" Ayumi said.

Nancy grabbed his shoulder and made him face her.

Then she whispered:

"Shinichi, do you know where we are? Do you know what's happening?"

Conan looked around the room. Then he nodded reluctantly. "Has anyone been hurt?"

"No, not to my knowledge," Nancy said. "I don't understand: how are you still okay?"

"Because they didn't want me dead, most likely," Conan said. "They exercised enough restraint not to crack my skull open. They're trying to play this as clean as possible."

"I'm not sure I understand," Mitsuhiko said.

"Guys, listen to me," Conan said. "These people are after Shiro."

"Heeeh?!" Ayumi said. "What's Shiro-kun have to do with this?!"

"Not so loud," Conan hushed, though Ayumi hadn't actually been loud with that last sentence. "Shiro didn't come here today because he knew they'd take him. And then they'd kill him, because he's the key witness to a high profile crime."

"Wait, what?" Mitsuhiko protested. "How come I've never heard of this?"

"Because you were never supposed to know," Conan said. "None of you were. Shiro was in the Witness Protection Program. Shiro's not even his real name. I'm not allowed to go into any further details, but these people here are out for revenge."

"...And if they have him, they'll let all of us go?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"Mitsuhiko-kun!" Ayumi scolded. "He's our friend! Surely you aren't thinking about-"

"I don't know what I think," Mitsuhiko said. "But I do know that I can't sit back and watch my classmates get executed one by one. I've seen enough movies to know how this plays out."

"Calm down," Conan said. "Before they kill anyone, they'll be sure to contact the respective authorities and make their demands. Nobody takes hostages without reason. Whether Shiro is turned over to them or not is outside of yours or my control. But just know that your elected representatives, this country's police force, and the international community are doing everything in their power to resolve this situation without anybody getting hurt. For the time being, don't try anything reckless. If they order you to do something, do it. You need to be looking out for each other, but also for your own safety."

"But what about you Conan?" Genta asked. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet," Conan said. "But whatever I'm doing, don't involve yourselves unless I explicitly ask you to."

"But-

"I mean it! I don't want any of your deaths on my conscience!"

"ALRIGHT!" the ringleader woman announced. "Listen up! We'll now be dividing you into groups! One group will remain here and the other will head to the gym. I will assign your groups now!"

She pointed to one kid. "One!"

Then to a kid sitting at the same table as the kid prior: "Two!"

Then to a third kid sitting at that table: "One!"

Then to a fourth: "Two!"

And on and on she went. Until finally everyone was assigned a group, including the teachers and faculty.

Once she was finished, she stood near the food line. "On your feet, maggots! GET MOVING!"

*BLAM*

She fired a round at the ceiling.

The students got up and those in group two were taken to the gymnasium.

In the process Ayumi, Genta, and Nancy were sent to the gymnasium whereas Conan and Mitsuhiko were to stay put in the cafeteria.

 **Scene Transition**

The slick CGI news station graphic played.

"Good morning Japan," a man sitting behind the news counter said. "We return now to the developing hostage situation at Teitan Elementary, in the Beika Ward of Tokyo, where it is estimated that more than 200 students are being held at gunpoint by armed, masked assailants. This just in, their spokesperson has come forward and issued demands of sweeping reform to the Japanese government. We'll play the clip now."

Standing in front of a wall where a makeshift revolutionary flag was draped, the woman from earlier was holding an automatic rifle.

"We are the National Indigenous Peoples' Liberation Army," she declared. "We stand in solidarity with marginalized peoples everywhere who have been displaced in their own lands by colonialist settlers and capitalist imperialist occupiers. The island of Hokkaido, in its entirety, is the homeland of the Ainu people. Who the indigenous peoples of the Ryukyu Islands are is self-explanatory. In both cases, the natives have been subject to ruthless _Yamato_ - _jin_ expansion and exploitation which has been ongoing for centuries. For the time being, these are our demands.

"First," she continued, "we demand that the Ryukyuan languages be taught as a mandatory course in all publicly funded schools in Okinawa and Kagoshima Prefectures. Second, we demand the option of Ainu language courses to be available in all publicly funded schools in Hokkaido. Third, we demand that you set aside four special seats in the House of Representatives, and two in the House of Councillors, to represent Ainu interests. Fourth, we demand the complete withdrawal of all American military bases from the Ryukyu islands.

"So far," she continued, "all of the hostages are alive and well. That will change, however, in sixteen hours if by then our demands have not been met. At that point we will execute ten hostages, and we will not discriminate between adult and child in selecting who dies then. For every hour after that we will execute five more, until either our demands are met or there are no more hostages left, at which point we are gladly willing to lay down our lives in the timeless revolutionary struggle. If at any point the police attempt a rescue operation, we will not hesitate to kill all of the hostages."

At that point the screen turned to a slide of pictures of the hostages, while _L'Internationale_ played in the background.

Kogoro burst into Eri's office, where she was staring at the TV screen mounted on the wall, a deathly pale look on her face.

"No," she whispered, "not again...Why does this keep happening to..."

"Eri!" Kogoro said, "I came running as soon as I got the news."

"They're in there," she murmured, freaking out. "Our daughter's in there."

"Huh? Eri, you don't mean to say that...I've had that same thought, but you can't lose your grip on reality. I care about Nancy too, but she's not-

"She IS!" Eri declared, hysteric. "That's Ran in there! That's our little girl in there! In that building, being held with a gun to her head! I don't know how either, but...!"

She blew into a tissue.

Kogoro swallowed. "Eri...we can talk more about that later. For now, it's our job to do whatever we can for the two children under our care. I've tried getting hold of the Inspector, but he's swamped right now. I'll be heading down to the station as soon as-

"No," she said, shaking her head. "No, please don't go anywhere. For right now, please just stay here with me..."

After about five seconds of hesitating he nodded. "They'll be alright, Eri. Trust in the Japanese police force. Sixteen hours should be more than enough for them to find a way to bring home all of those children safe and sound. Nothing will happen to Nancy...or to Conan."

He held her tight as she continued to sob and as the news anchors on TV continued to provide updates.

 **Scene Transition**

By now, all of the teachers and faculty had been captured. Kobayashi-sensei and Namiki were here, whereas Torishima and Misato had been sent to the gymnasium.

Armed men walked across the rows of tables from time to time just to ensure that no funny business was going on. However, that didn't stop Conan from-

"What are you doing?!" Mitsuhiko whispered to him.

"What else?" Conan retorted. "Checking the situation outside these walls. It looks like they've already made their demands."

"Really? Did they ask for Shiro?"

Conan shook his head. "No, what I mean is they've made their official demands, to the general public, to cover for their real objective."

"Huh?"

"This is what's called a false flag operation," Conan explained. "The people who they actually want concessions from is the FBI."

"You mean like Jodie-sensei?"

A bit surprised that Mitsuhiko knew this, Conan nodded regardless. "Yeah. I need to make a phone call. But for that I'll need to find a quiet place away from prying eyes and ears."

"How do you even still have a phone?" Mitsuhiko asked. "I saw Nancy give yours to them."

"I have two," Conan explained. "Nancy knew that."

"By the way," Mitsuhiko whispered, "there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Hmm?"

"Did you know that this was going to happen?"

Conan nodded. "Not for certain, but I figured there was a very good chance, based on some things that've been happening recently."

"And you didn't bother to tell us about it?!" Mitsuhiko exploded (quietly).

"No," Conan said. "I can't explain why to you, but I wasn't allowed to do that."

"What was in your backpack? You looked like you were waiting for something to happen. What was in there?"

"...A gun."

"HEEEEEEH?!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed, very loudly.

"Hey you, shut your f**king mouth, kid!" one of them roared.

"These brutes," Conan complained, "screaming profanities at a bunch of grade school aged kids. But anyways, yeah, that's what I brought with me. Obviously I don't have my backpack anymore, as they've taken all of ours, but in any case I don't think that would've helped us out too much. There's how many guys here? I couldn't take them all out by myself. What I need right now is to make that call. If I can get them to let me use the bathroom, or the nurse's office, then..."

"Say no more. I've got this. But I need you to do exactly as I say."

Mitsuhiko whispered the instructions in Conan's ear. And then:

*cough cough cough*

Mitsuhiko stood up. "Hey, my friend needs his inhaler!"

A man came their way.

"Conan-kun has asthma," Mitsuhiko lied. "He needs his inhaler or it'll be bad."

The man turned to a nearby comrade, and then they walked across the room to discuss it with the others.

Meanwhile, Conan just kept fake coughing.

Finally, one of the men said:

"Is his inhaler in his backpack?"

"Yes," Mitsuhiko said. "Do you think you can find it?"

"What does it look like?"

"It's hard to explain," Mitsuhiko said. "If you'll just let him go retrieve it, that'll be fine."

The man was uncertain as to how to proceed.

Yasuda stood up. "Ey, I'll go. I know this kid, and I know what his backpack looks like. I can get it for him."

One of the men angrily approached this hostage who had the audacity to stand up, but a fellow hostage-taker restrained him.

"One of us will go with you," the man said. "Don't you dare try to run."

Crap, this is bad, Conan thought.

But then he had an idea.

To Mitsuhiko's surprise, he continued to fake cough, even after Yasuda left the cafeteria.

And then he started coughing even louder and more dramatically.

The bathroom, Mitsuhiko realized.

"Um, I think he might be about to throw up," Mitsuhiko said. "Can you let him use the bathroom?"

The hostage-takers looked at each other and then one of them nodded.

 **Scene Transition**

Locking the bathroom door behind him, Conan then locked himself in one of the stalls to minimize the chances of some sound carrying to the guard outside.

Then he dialed Line Zero. This time, it went straight through without him having to give a password.

"I take it you're inside Teitan Elementary right now?" Elena opened with.

"Yeah. A lot of people are scared, and it looks like we've only got 16 hours before people start dying. Have they contacted you?"

Elena nodded. "They left a letter in James Black's mail box. They want Shiro-kun."

"Are you going to hand him over?" Conan pressed.

"No, of course not. That's why you have to resolve this."

"Huh?"

"We're going to send a little present your way. A little something that my husband's cooking up right now. It'll be ready in a couple hours. Where are you being held?"

"In the cafeteria."

"I see. Are they holding you separate from the other hostages?"

"No. They don't seem to know about me."

"Fair enough. We'll find a way to get it to you. But beware: the package is very volatile."

"Would you mind telling me asking what this package is, and how it'll help me take out several dozen armed men?"

Elena sat up straight in the dining room chair. "Certainly. What it is is..."

 **Ending**

(In the Storm of my Mind by Sayuri)

On that day they trekked to the mouth of the great river

Leading the procession, the elder donning black vestments

His wrinkled face, an old, sad story etched into its creases

With a thousand yard stare, he uttered the old utterances

"Take to heart, ye of few days, what you have witnessed!"

His words carried no weight as we played quietly in the back

The years passed, and our style of play grew more refined

Anywhere, anytime, you were the only company I needed

But watching you gasp for air was a sudden slap in the face

It was from then that I could hear the crescendo of the bells

Trapped in the storm of my mind none can hear me scream

I know our bodies shall be threshed at the foot of the altar

And our ashes sprinkled on the lips of the grinning demon

This happy dream is naught but the vapors of a dying flame

I want to cherish these moments always, but I am reminded

The strongest among us must yield to the turning of the hour

Its ticking, like nails on a chalkboard, like cascading thunder

The stroke of midnight shall do us apart, forever and ever.


	4. Chapter 4

Locking the bathroom door behind him, Conan then locked himself in one of the stalls to minimize the chances of some sound carrying to the guard outside.

Then he dialed Line Zero. This time, it went straight through without him having to give a password.

"I take it you're inside Teitan Elementary right now?" Elena opened with.

"Yeah. A lot of people are scared, and it looks like we've only got 16 hours before people start dying. Have they contacted you?"

Elena nodded. "They left a letter in James Black's mail box. They want Shiro-kun."

"Are you going to hand him over?" Conan pressed.

"No, of course not. That's why you have to resolve this."

"Huh?"

"We're going to send a little present your way. A little something that my husband's cooking up right now. It'll be ready in a couple hours. Where are you being held?"

"In the cafeteria."

"I see. Are they holding you separate from the other hostages?"

"No. They don't seem to know about me."

"Fair enough. We'll find a way to get it to you. But beware: the package is very volatile."

"Would you mind telling me asking what this package is, and how it'll help me take out several dozen armed men?"

Elena sat up straight in the dining room chair. "Certainly. What it is is..."

She sighed. "How much do you know about the issue of Chechen terrorism in Russia?"

"Huh? Uhh, nothing."

"Okay. Well, some terrorists held up a Moscow theater in 2002, taking everyone inside as a hostage. About 800 people, held captive by about 40 to 50 guys. The Russian government found a way to end the crisis: they pumped in a gaseous substance throughout the theatre's ventilation system, incapacitating the people inside. And then Russian forces launched their raid on the building. The substance used was called Carfentanil. Do you know what that is?"

Conan nodded. "It's an extremely powerful opioid drug. Very, very easy to overdose and die from. Tell me, how did that work out for the Russian government? How many of the hostages died from the gas?"

"At least one hundred and thirty hostages died."

"And you want me to introduce something like that into the school's ventilation system? Out of the question! That's the textbook definition of a cure that's worse than the disease!"

"You do realize, of course, that we can just use the Elixir on them later. All we'd have to do is get inside the building before the proper authorities do."

"And how would you do that, when the outside of this school is crawling with police officers?"

*bam bam bam*

"HEY!" the guard outside the door yelled. "Why is this door f**king locked?! If you dare try to run we"ll shoot your friend in the face! We'll blow his f**king brains out! You hear me?!"

"Sounds like we're out of time," Elena said. "You just worry about your end and I'll worry about mine. If we're unable to save them after the gas is deployed, all the blame will rest squarely on me. Good luck."

"W-wait a-

But Elena had already hung up.

Considering the magnitude of what he was being asked to do, Conan felt sick to his stomach.

Meanwhile, the banging on the door was getting more and more intense.

*bluuah*

Finally, the guard managed to break the lock and enter.

He stepped into the stall where a sweaty Conan was sitting on the floor, exhausted.

The guard looked inside the toilet and-

Well I'll be, he thought. Kid wasn't lying after all. "Alright, come on. Move it. Let's go."

 **Opening**

(Angel Night by Psy-S, an opening to City Hunter, performed here by Garnet Crow)

(To act decisively is a prerequisite to victory! Seize the day or die trying! Shiro-kun flips the tables at long last, and the Men in Black spring into action, breaking the long peace! Are we in for the fight of our lives? Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is DETECTIVE CONAN!)

 _I_ _rumine shon mashita ni mioroshi_

 _Yoru wo nobotte ku ESCALATOR_

 _Kooritsuita BIRU no tanima wo_

 _HEADLIGHT no kawa ga nagareru_

 _Saisho ni suki ni natta no wa koe_

 _Sore kara senaka to totonoerareta yubisuki_

 _Tokidoki damarigachi ni naru kuse_

 _Dokoka e itte shimau kokoro to MELODY_

 _ANGEL VOICE na wo yonde mimi sumasu ECHO_

 _SHINING SMILE kaze ni chiru hanabira to KISS_

 _ANGEL VOICE atarashii natsukashii ECHO_

 _SHINING SMILE isogazu ni ari no mama KISS_

 **Black Mass! Part Four!**

"Stand now for the Prime Minister, Genzo Abe."

There was applause as the man with the veneer of a western cowboy, like a Japanese Reegan or Busch, took the podium.

He waited for the applause to die down and then he began:

"My fellow countrymen, I stand before you today with a heavy heart. As of one hour and thirty minutes ago, the nation of Japan is presently in a state of dire emergency. Our children are in mortal danger. To the many fathers and mothers who have to fear now for the lives of their little ones, I feel for you. This is not a matter that your government takes lightly. Our great police force has fully mobilized to respond to the situation at hand, and our hospitals are ready to give blood and other treatments to those who may need it. The things which may have divided us as a people yesterday are irrelevant today: what we all want now is bloodless resolution to the hostage crisis which has broken out at Teitan Elementary School.

"To the minds and bodies behind this cowardly and dastardly attack," he continued, "know that the seeds you have sown today will reap consequences for each and every one of you. You will not evade punishment for your crimes against humanity. Your attempts to divide the Japanese people among superficial ethnic and linguistic lines will fail. I have seen your little video, and I am aware of your demands. To these I only have this to say: we do not, we have not, and we will not negotiate with terrorists. You will not exact even the most trace concession from us. Our only offer to you is this: release our children now, and our courts will be merciful in the verdicts that they pass down to you. But if you harm even one child, then do not expect to escape with your lives. We will hunt you down, gun you down, gut your corpses like wild game and string them up by their necks like slaughtered chickens. And in the course of the righteous fury and indignation of the Japanese people, we fear that we will not be able to guarantee the safety of your families, once your identities are revealed to the public.

"For you there is no path to victory, only the most tolerable of defeats possible under the circumstances that you've created for yourselves. Turn back from your wicked ways now, and surrender, before you cross a point of no return. That will be all, thank you and our multiple national deities bless."

 **Scene Transition**

Conan sat back down next to Mitsuhiko.

"Oi, did you do it?" the freckled boy asked.

"...Yeah," Conan said. "But I'm not sure if that call was of any help."

"Huh?"

"Thanks for trying."

For a decision like this, he thought, I can't bear this alone...I need to speak with Ran. But how?

Yasuda had already returned from wherever the backpacks were taken to and had once more resumed his position on the ground. Conan looked over at him:

He should already know, Conan thought. What I brought with me today. He should've had a chance to look inside. So does that mean-

He shook his head. There was no time to think about that.

Every door to the gymnasium should be guarded, he thought. If Ran had a cellphone on her, then...wait a second!

"Mitsuhiko, do you have your Detective Boys badges?"

Mitsuhiko nodded. "I got it right here. Ayumi-chan has hers too. But we don't know if somebody might be listening on the other side if we tried to call them. If they were caught trying to phone us, it might be bad."

Conan shook his head. "Under these circumstances, that's a risk we're going to have to take."

 **Scene Transition**

Mmm...her head felt fuzzy. She her body felt sore. She didn't really feel like moving.

She opened her eyes, and she was staring at the ceiling.

It wasn't a familiar ceiling, though. Was this...not at the Professor's house? Then where was she?

And then it hit her: she had been here before. This had happened before.

She was in a wooden room in the Kudo Residence which only had one door. A door which, doubtlessly, had been locked from the outside. It was a strangely designed room, seemingly made with the purpose of keeping somebody confined within. Maybe it was a punishment room for an unruly child, long ago...?

Via the clock on the wall she was able to tell that she'd been out for a couple of hours.

There were several windows up high. If she could just get up there then:

"Don't bother," Shiro said from the other side of the door. "Those windows are sealed shut. The Professor would not have selected this room were that not the case."

"H-Huh...?"

"There's no escape from here," Shiro said, leaning against the door and sliding onto the floor. "If we let you go now, then...you'll just head back over there, right? To your school."

"What's happened?" Haibara demanded. "Did those people come and-

"Yeah. The whole school's being held hostage right now as we speak."

Realizing that her worst fears were now coming to fruition, she began to pace frantically, letting her mind race with a hundred negative ideas.

Mitsuhiko-kun, she thought. Genta-kun. Ayumi-chan. You're all...you're all...

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. A deeply visceral and unnerving display.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed once more.

She banged on the door. "Higo-kun, open this door now! I can still help them! I can still..."

"Yeah? How?" Shiro retorted. "What do you know that we don't? What can you do that all the rest of us can't? Your mother's got a plan. It's not the greatest plan, granted, but...it's the best shot we have!"

Or so she keeps saying, he thought.

He sighed. "Haibara-san, listen to me. This is not your fault. None of this is your fault. This is happening because of me, because of my decision to cooperate with Elena-san."

"Why did you do that, anyways?! What was the point?! What did we possibly gain from last night which could make what's happening today worth it?!"

"For your mother? It was probably the opportunity to take out so many codenamed agents in one shot. Including Gin, who killed her daughter, your big sister, Satoshi's big sister. I don't blame her. From the looks of it, she succeeded also in taking out about a hundred Janissaries."

"Jani-what?"

"Never mind. Let's just say that the Organization lost a great number of valuable personnel last night. It'll make it harder for them to proceed going forwards. Additionally, whenever the White Organization pulls off attacks like this, it reinforces the notion among our enemies (he felt strange saying that) that we have no great master plan, that we're just trying to destroy their criminal empire one victory at a time. It'll lower their suspicions down the road."

"What does that even mean?"

"I don't know. That's just what your mother told me. And that's what she told Kudo as well."

"And you went along with that answer? Mom never stepped foot in our school, I'll bet. She doesn't know the kids there. I do. I care about what happens to them. And I assumed you would too. But it would seem that I was mistaken."

Shiro was silent.

"I did it f..."

"...Yes?"

"...No, never mind. It's not important right now. Look, I'm willing to let you out, on one condition: you think of a better plan. A better way to help all of them out. If you can do that, I'm willing to help you with that in whatever capacity you need. Yes...I'll place my faith in you, if you can be confident enough in your own plan. But if not, then no deal. I'm not about to throw away my life for no reason, and I'm certainly not going to let you do that either."

"...Tell me what mom's plan is."

"I absolutely guarantee you're not going to like it."

"Oh?"

"It's a really, really terrible plan. It goes like this..."

 **Scene Transition**

What is sovereignty?

Sovereignty can be defined as the exercise of authority over a piece of territory, and all the inhabitants therein, up to the point of a monopoly on violence.

By that definition, those 48 armed persons who were now holding this school at gunpoint had asserted sovereignty over the interior of Teitan Elementary. For the time being, the Japanese government had no say in its affairs. This sovereignty would not last, of course. It was a castle built upon the sand. But still, the de facto ruler of this de facto state, the leader of this team of Janissaries, a woman whose code name was Margarita, sat comfortably in the Principle's Office, which was like her White House.

She did not regard herself as being ruler over anything, but rather saw herself as the willing pawn of a higher authority. Accordingly, she sat up straight, bowed her head, closed her eyes, and recited for the sixteenth time today:

"Almighty One, deliver us from the ancient heresy, which is the gateway to apostasy. Increase our faith a hundredfold, not in promises never spoken but in the righteousness of our conviction and of our obedience to Thee, oh Giver of Days. Let our endeavors see full consequence and count not our iniquities against Thee, though they be innumerable. We live and die in Thy name. Give us strength."

It was a humble plea to her god, penned more than half a century ago by Hajime Suzuki himself, which she had always found enough to calm her in the most stressful and dangerous situations.

She had been recruited into the Janissaries at age 16, to be with her considerably older boyfriend, who was a member. She'd come from a less-than-ideal home; for as long as she could remember she'd had to put up with her mom and stepdad bickering and screaming at each other. The training was so severe that she contemplated suicide to get out of it, but once in she found a new family, people who had her back no matter what. Beyond even that, however, she found her purpose for being. She was part of a cause, a mission that was greater than any one person's life. And for all that she would be forever grateful to the Black Organization.

One of her men opened the door and That Person stepped inside.

"Mezcal."

"Margarita."

"What brings you here? You know you're supposed to be one of the hostages."

"Then I guess I'll make this quick. I'm just here to remind you, one more time for the road, that you are to do everything in your power to prevent loss of life."

"Hmm? Of course I understand that," Margarita said. "I've heard all this already. But again, I cannot guarantee the final outcome of this. Much less so if I'm too afraid to get my hands dirty. Don't make this job too hard for us to finish. Was that all?"

"No," Mezcal said. "Before I go, I'd just like to ask you something...almost everything that you believe is founded upon the claims of two men...do you really regard Nobutaro as having so much credibility that you're willing to kill and be killed for the things he said?"

"Absolutely," she said without hesitation.

"Why?"

"He's the one who translated the brass plates, revealing divine truths to us in the process. If you can't fight and die for that, then...what else is there? What else is important enough to justify spending one more second on this godforsaken rock we call earth? I...I...I trust in him completely, without fail!"

"...I see," Mezcal said, looking away for whatever reason. "I'd better be getting back before somebody starts to suspect something's up."

 **Scene Transition**

"Ayumi-chan here."

Finally, Conan thought. "Oi, Ayumi-chan, are you guys doing alright over there?"

*nod* "We're doing fine, Conan-kun."

"That's good to hear. Can I speak with Nancy? It's really important."

"Sure."

A few seconds later:

"Yo," Nancy said. "What's up? You found a way out of this?"

"Elena-san did. But it's...far from an ideal solution. I need to hear what you think."

Considering that Shinichi virtually never asked for her input before acting, Ran was a little taken off guard by this request. "Okay...?"

"She wants me to introduce poison gas into the ventilation system, and then her people will come in and revive all of us afterwards."

"B-But that means-

"Yeah, she intends on letting over 200 children die. She can't think of any other way acceptable to her, and frankly neither can I."

"Huh?" Mitsuhiko, overhearing this conversation, said.

"Idiot, you could always give him over..." Nancy said.

"No way. If we give Shiro up to them, that'll just make things worse, even if it gets us out of this particular bind. Elena-san would never agree to that. That only leaves us with the aforementioned plan."

He sighed. "So what do you think? Should I proceed? Do I really need to do this?"

"You're leaving something like this up to _me_?"

"The responsibility will be on me and me alone," Conan said. "But I want to hear somebody else's opinion before I act."

"...How certain is Elena-san that she actually can revive us before the police storm the building?"

"She said she's working on that," Conan said. "Which means I don't know, and in all likelihood she doesn't know either."

There was silence on the other end.

"Nancy? Are you still there? Nancy?"

"Before you do this, give me some time. There's a certain other risk with that plan, but I think I know how to correct it."

Conan nodded. "I don't actually have the means to pull this off yet, so yeah, it looks like you're going to have however much time you need."

"Huh?"

"Elena-san's going to send the poison my way. Sometime in the next 14 hours, I would presume."

"That's good. It means you have time to think of another way out."

"But I'm not sure if there is a-

"There is another way out. But in case you don't find it before we're all out of time, I'll do exactly what I said I'll do. You can count on me."

Conan was silent.

"Over and out," Nancy said, hanging up.

 **Scene Transition**

"...Are you done in there?" Shiro asked.

There was one more retching sound, and then a pause.

"Yeah, I think I'm good now," Haibara said, wiping her mouth, having just vomited twice.

"Like I said, pretty bad plan, huh?"

"My mother would...never actually go through with something so horrible...right?"

"Well...yeah. I wouldn't have told you it otherwise. So what do you think? You think you can come up with something better?"

"I know I can!" Haibara retorted, not so much to draw attention to her own intellect as to emphasize how awful her mother's plan was.

"Well, you got maybe a small handful of hours to come up with something, so..."

"...Wait. How would my mom send the package to Kudo-kun in the first place?"

"I imagine she'd have one guy try to infiltrate the school disguised as one of the gunmen. I imagine that they all know each other, so it's probably a long shot plan to begin with."

"But how about another hostage?"

"Huh? Hey, come on, we've been over this. You can't just barge in there and-

"Just hear me out, okay? I think I've got a plan. It's not 100% guaranteed to work, but I think it comes pretty close."

"That's good enough for me. Tell me all about it."

"I'll tell you on the way. Unlock this door so we can begin preparations."

Shiro turned the lock and opened the door.

Haibara stepped forward.

"Alright. So what do we do fir-

*oof*

Haibara grabbed him by the shoulder and then kneed him in the groin as hard as she could, sending him onto his knees reeling in pain. She grabbed him and quickly dragged him into the room, and then closed and locked the door behind her.

Shiro pounded by the door. " _Oi_ , Haibara-san! What the heck do you think you're doing?! Open this door! Don't you go and do something that'll only get yourself killed! Open this door!"

"...You know, there was a time when you were my hero," Haibara reminisced sadly.

Slightly hurt about the fact that Haibara was speaking in past tense, Shiro regained his composure and continued pounding on the door.

"It tore me apart when I learned the truth about you," she said. "About the people you were affiliated with. And when Kudo-kun had you transfer to our school as a fellow child...I just wasn't sure how to handle that."

"Haibara...is that...is that why you're doing this now?" Shiro asked. "Is it because you don't trust me?"

Haibara shook her head. "It's the opposite. I do trust you, to do what you think is right. And that's why I can't let you out of here. Higo-kun, you were my hero, but I didn't really know you. I was just a fan from a distance, even if we did get to meet once or twice. But then I got the chance to know you, and then..."

Her face red, she continued: "Higo-kun, you cooperated with my mom because you wanted me to have the chance to see my big sis again, didn't you?"

On the other side, Shiro's face was even redder. "Y-Yeah..."

"Thank you," she said, smiling. "Thank you for that, and for everything else. You are...Higo-kun, you are the kind of person who I'd very much like to spend the rest of my life with...and that's why I'll be sure to come back alive! And I'll bring back our friends safely too. You can count on it!"

Before Shiro could respond, Haibara ran off to perform her duty as a daughter, a friend, a sister, a lover, and a scientist.

 **Scene Transition**

A couple of hours had passed since.

Conan was sitting at the lunch table waiting for Elena's package to come in.

And then, out of the blue, Nancy came running into the cafeteria.

Before the hostage-takers could react, she ran up to Yasuda and put something in his hand.

Very subtle, Conan thought with a deadpan look.

But he wasn't laughing when they grabbed her and lifted her up by her arm.

Another guy came running in and started cussing out Nancy.

There was some inaudible dialogue between them, and then they began walking Nancy back to the gymnasium.

Conan swallowed. He knew there was the chance they might punish her, but whatever it was she had done Nancy was evidently successful.

Yasuda read the note in his hand.

A few seconds later, Yasuda stood up and said something to the guards, who escorted him out of the cafeteria.

Alright, think, Conan thought. Since there's a chance that pulling a stunt like this would lead to them patting her down, or otherwise searched, it's likely that she left her badge with Ayumi-chan or Genta. I should be able to wait five minutes and then call to ask what she did. It concerned him so...

His eyes widened.

Oh friggin' crap, he realized. I never told her. Does that mean that she...?!

This was bad. This was very, very bad.

Because Shigeo Yasuda was Mezcal.

 **Scene Transition**

Yes, you read that correctly:

Shigeo Yasuda is Mezcal. That sleazy-mannered, poorly dressed man who no reasonable person would readily trust with their kids was the top scientist of the Black Organization.

And when Nancy gave him that note, it effectively alerted him to what the Organization's enemies were planning.

He barged into the Principal's office and stood before Margarita.

"You gotta be ready for a gas attack," he said.

"Huh?"

"Long story, but I got this letter from a certain girl. Read it."

He placed it on "her" desk. She read it:

"Yasuda-san, you must get in contact with Bonnie. I mean the girl who helped me. I'm sure you know how to do that. I need you to tell her that over 200 children and a number of faculty from Teitan Elementary in Beika, Tokyo are coming her way. She needs to be ready for them and to keep them from passing on, or at least for a little while, so that they can all come back. Certain people will make sure that they're able to return to their bodies soon. Anyways, please pass this message on to her."

"It should be crystal clear from this that they've got that thing at their disposal," Yasuda said. "With that in mind, the most efficient way for them to resolve this present situation would be to take us all out indiscriminately with poison gas and then revive the hostages afterwards. They're gonna try to insert something into the air conditioning unit. Either they're going to try to pass one or several canisters on to one of the hostages, somebody who's in on the secret, or one of their agents will try to sneak in here and do it themselves. Either way, you've got to find that person and shut them down."

*krrrrrrr*

Margarita picked up the walkie-talkie. "Yes?"

"We've found an intruder!"

"Huh?"

"He was trying to pass off as one of us! We found some interesting items in his backpack! Looks like he brought some sort of aerosol!"

On the other side of the line, two men had their guns pointed at Andre Camel.

Yasuda snatched the walkie-talkie. "Put him in the gymnasium. Make him sit several feet away from the nearest child and don't let any of them approach him. Bring his bag here."

"...Who the h**l is this?"

Margarita snatched the walkie-talkie back. "Do as he says."

"Roger that."

And then the guard hung up.

Margarita grinned. "Looks like we've won."

"No, we've only thwarted this one plot. We can be certain that they'll try again, because the method I described is the most effective."

 **Scene Transition**

Slipping down the stairs with the quietness of a veteran burglar, that person stepped into the basement of Dr. Agasa's house.

They sat down at a desk with a bizarre looking electronic control panel, and then laid their gun down to rest for a second. They pushed a button, waited a couple seconds for the light to flash, and then flip the switch up.

They then got up, walked across the room, opened the bottom of a filing cabinet, and took out a large button encased in a plastic container.

Finally, they crept back up the stairs, having acquired what they needed and intent to leave no sign that they were here.

 **Ending**

(In the Storm of my Mind by Sayuri)

On that day they trekked to the mouth of the great river

Leading the procession, the elder donning black vestments

His wrinkled face, an old, sad story etched into its creases

With a thousand yard stare, he uttered the old utterances

"Take to heart, ye of few days, what you have witnessed!"

His words carried no weight as we played quietly in the back

The years passed, and our style of play grew more refined

Anywhere, anytime, you were the only company I needed

But watching you gasp for air was a sudden slap in the face

It was from then that I could hear the crescendo of the bells

Trapped in the storm of my mind none can hear me scream

I know our bodies shall be threshed at the foot of the altar

And our ashes sprinkled on the lips of the grinning demon

This happy dream is naught but the vapors of a dying flame

I want to cherish these moments always, but I am reminded

The strongest among us must yield to the turning of the hour

Its ticking, like nails on a chalkboard, like cascading thunder

The stroke of midnight shall do us apart, forever and ever.


	5. Chapter 5

_The pier overlooked Tokyo Bay. Of course, at nighttime one couldn't see much, but there was a nice breeze, at least._

 _She saw the light from the car which then came to a stop. Then she heard the slamming of the car door._

 _About a minute later, Iroha walked onto the dock and stood next to her friend, leaning against the wooden railing._

 _There was a pause, and then:_

 _"The human race sucks," Yoko said. "Human nature is smothered out by society, jobs, work and school. Instincts are deleted by laws. I see people say things that contradict themselves, or people that don't take any advantage of the gift of human life. They waste their minds on memorizing the stats of every college basketball player or how many words should be in a report when they should be using their brains for more important things. The human race isn't worth fighting for anymore."_

 _"And you believe that?" Iroha asked._

 _Yoko grinned. "All of it, save his conclusion."_

 _"He?"_

 _"A restless, violent soul, forced to live in a cage, forced to smile and repeat the same old lies that most people have actually come to believe in. His pent-up anger was expressed in words, put on paper, in his private diaries. Unfortunately, he neither knew nor sought a remedy for the ills of our society. All he knew how to do was lash out, and he did. In America, this person's was a household name a mere 20 years ago, though since then he'd been eclipsed by others like him."_

 _There was another pause._

 _"Hello, Iroha. It's been too long."_

 _"Yes. Three years, was it?"_

 _"Two years and eight months. So, I hear you're gonna be married?"_

 _"Yup. After two years of waiting, I finally had him propose today...But you didn't call me here to catch up on the latest gossip, did you?"_

 _"No. Iroha, I have...a favor to ask."_

 _There was a pause._

 _"Well, out with it," Namiki said._

 _"I'm not sure why you had to pick that school in particular. There are plenty others in the area, I'm sure, which'd be glad to hire you. But in any case...I'm going to have to ask you to resign from your position as nurse at Teitan Elementary."_

 _"What?"_

 _Yoko sighed. "Listen: a good bit of time has passed, and...a lot of things have changed since we last met. I now have, deign I say it, administrative responsibilities. I'm assuming you're aware that my upbringing wasn't the most normal, and...well, you know those strange people who my mother associated with? I'm in charge of them now. So I have to look out for their best interests and the fulfillment of their objectives. We've got some business with Teitan Elementary, and I'd really appreciate it if you didn't get in the way of that."_

 _"I...I'm not sure I understand," Namiki said. "You're a famous pop star. Young girls across the country look up to you as a role model_ (a word at which Yoko grimaced) _. Why would you be leading such a shady bunch as your mother's friends?"_

 _"It's complicated, alright?! Suffice to say, I've been groomed for this position for a while, and especially ever since they started to become dissatisfied with my predecessor...So again, I'm asking nicely here. Please step down and find employment elsewhere. I don't want you to become our enemy."_

 _After mulling it over for a couple of seconds, Namiki answered:_

 _"No."_

 _"Excuse me?"_

 _"No. I'm sorry, but I can't do what you're asking."_

 _"And why not, exactly?"_

 _"Because...if I made it that easy for you, then wouldn't that make me complicit in your wrongdoings?"_

 _"Wrongdoings?" Yoko repeated._

 _"Yeah, you heard me right. Yoko Okino, I've heard stories about your atrocities. You ate a woman's flesh, and then murdered Rina-ojousama. You've gone so far over to the dark side, that..."_

 _She wiped her eyes. "To be perfectly honest with you, I'm not sure if I even recognize you anymore. You're certainly not the same girl who I used to be best friends with. And that's why...That's why I'll do everything in my power to stop you, until the day that you come to your senses!"_

 _Yoko was taken back by this response._

 _"If you want to stop me," Namiki concluded, "well, you're just gonna have to kill me then. Either do it yourself or order one of your lackies to do it for you. Maybe you could strangle me like you did her. Because I'm not gonna do as you say."_

 _Yoko hesitated for a second, clearly in shock. But then she said:_

 _"I see. It was, um, well, it was good to see you again."_

 _Namiki nodded. "Likewise, Yoko-chan."_

 _Yoko shook her head. "I wish it didn't have to be this way."_

 _"That much we can agree on."_

 _Yoko patted Namiki on the shoulder and then walked past her, eager to leave._

 **Opening**

(Angel Night by Psy-S, an opening to City Hunter, performed here by Garnet Crow)

(To act decisively is a prerequisite to victory! Seize the day or die trying! Shiro-kun flips the tables at long last, and the Men in Black spring into action, breaking the long peace! Are we in for the fight of our lives? Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is DETECTIVE CONAN!)

 _I_ _rumine shon mashita ni mioroshi_

 _Yoru wo nobotte ku ESCALATOR_

 _Kooritsuita BIRU no tanima wo_

 _HEADLIGHT no kawa ga nagareru_

 _Saisho ni suki ni natta no wa koe_

 _Sore kara senaka to totonoerareta yubisuki_

 _Tokidoki damarigachi ni naru kuse_

 _Dokoka e itte shimau kokoro to MELODY_

 _ANGEL VOICE na wo yonde mimi sumasu ECHO_

 _SHINING SMILE kaze ni chiru hanabira to KISS_

 _ANGEL VOICE atarashii natsukashii ECHO_

 _SHINING SMILE isogazu ni ari no mama KISS_

 **Black Mass! Part Five!**

The chatter in the gymnasium continued, though it had quieted down somewhat. The hostage takers understood that it was probably impossible to keep that many kids from making noise, so they didn't even bother for the most part.

It had been nine hours since this crisis began. Seven more and their captors would start killing people.

Torishima and Namiki lied on the ground next to each other.

She turned to him and:

"Excuse me," she whispered. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Huh?"

"Now that we're in this mess, there are some things we oughta be clear about."

"Okay...?"

"First, I have nothing against you on account of your ethnic status," Namiki said. "It seems that's what you thought, but..."

"Then what was it that cause you to distrust me?"

"Hmm, I don't know, maybe it's the fact that you were hired by the people who're holding us all hostage now."

"Wait...what?!"

"Shh, not so loud," she hissed. "Yeah. There's that. What'd they hire you to do? Why'd you come to teach here?"

Torishima sighed. "I had a debt problem. My son took my credit card and made some really expensive purchases. My salary at the university where I taught wouldn't enough to cover it. I'd be paying it off for 10 to 20 years."

"But then certain people came forward and offered to pay you a large lump sum to quit your job, apply here, and run some basic reconnaissance of the school?" Namiki guessed.

Torishima nodded. "I didn't think it'd actually hurt anything. They told me they were doing an undercover documentary. Sure, i had my doubts about them, but with the financial shape that I was in, I wasn't keen to doubt too hard before accepting their offer. Why? What do you know about these people?"

"From what I've heard, most likely they hired you to deflect our suspicions from their actual inside man."

"Huh? Inside man?"

"It's complicated. I can't really explain. We knew one of their people had infiltrated the school, but we didn't know who he was at first. They knew this, so they hired you to serve as a decoy."

"...I'm sorry, then," he said. "I didn't know. To think that I played a role in facilitating this present nightmare...I won't be easy to forgive myself. That's for sure."

"There's something else you should know," she said. "There is, I'm guessing, one more reason behind why they hired you."

"Huh?"

"I don't know how these hostage takers presented themselves to the outside world," Namiki said, "but there's a very good chance that they're posing as a militant group comprised of disgruntled ethnic minorities."

"...In other words, when all is said and done they want me to take the fall as their inside man," Torishima realized.

"Exactly. These people are ruthless. Stone-hearted killers. They don't care who gets hurt by their actions."

There was a pause.

"When I went after you that one time," Namiki said, "it was because the real inside man was within earshot. He was mopping the floors in the room over, and I was sure to leave the door cracked open. We had to make him believe that we still suspected you instead of him. So...no hard feelings?"

"Against you? Of course not. I brought this upon myself...*sigh* What am I going to do after this?"

"Huh?"

"If I go to jail, what'll happen to my son? He's of working age and able-bodied but he's totally helpless and clueless. Not to mention my debt...who'll pay that off? How could I do that from prison? Oh man...my life is..."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Namiki thought. "If things come to blows, my people will help you out. They'll even give you a new identity and relocate you elsewhere if need be. And they'll help your son stand on his own two feet."

"Really? They would do that?"

Namiki nodded. "I'll make sure of it."

"Oh? And what are you to them? What role do you play in this gigantic, perplexing puzzle?"

"I'm a volunteer. As simple as that."

"Interesting. For what it's worth, I myself am a volunteer at the Shriner's Hospital."

"Are you hitting on me? My future hubby wouldn't like that."

Torishima shook his head. "Goodness, no. I swore off marriage and relationships altogether after that previous eleven-year debacle. But regardless, I'm pleased to have gotten to make your acquaintance, Iroha Namiki."

"Likewise."

Meanwhile, a couple yards away, Misato was lost in thought about a petty but rather heated squabble that he had with his brother recently.

Will I never get the chance to apologize? he thought.

 **Scene Transition**

*wham*

*wham*

*wham*

*blohtt*

Having broken through the lock, Shiro opened the door.

Finally, he was free from that awful smell.

But more importantly, however, he had to stop Haibara before it was too late.

Little did he know that it already was.

 **Scene Transition**

The armed men were stationed at all entry and exit points to the school. Peering outside they could see the extensive barricade that the police had erected.

And then:

*POW*

A woman holding a gun in her raised hand stepped through the barricade, unhindered by the police, and headed for the front entrance to Teitan Elementary.

As she neared the door, they opened it and pointed their guns at her.

"Well looky here," one of them said. "Seems we've got another hostage."

"Nope," the woman said.

Then she revealed what was in her other hand:

A button for something. The woman was wearing a yellow sweater and tight-fitting reddish-pinkish pants. Her hair was arranged in a perm.

The woman, of course, was Shiho Miyano. And she had a button.

"You see this?" she asked.

Then she pushed down on the button. "The second my finger lets go of this button, the entire school will be engulfed in flames in a matter of seconds. I've rigged explosive charges all throughout the school grounds, and if you don't want me to let go right now then you will let me pass without incident. And yes, in case you're wondering I've planted explosives right near this entrance as well. So STEP ASIDE, DIRTBAGS!"

Frightened, they did exactly what she said, and then closed the doors behind her.

As she walked down the halls, she was stopped by guards. But the two guys behind her warned them about what she was armed with.

She entered the Principal's office.

Margarita took one look at her and:

"Who the h*ll are you?"

Sherry cocked her head. "You really don't know who I am? Wow, you guys must've forgotten about me pretty quick then. If only you did so earlier so that I wouldn't have to put up with all your stupid sh*t. Pisco, Vermouth, Bourbon...I survived all of them. You're nothing to me. You're just trash."

Margarita stood up. "You're Sherry? For real?"

"Yeah."

And with that, Margarita pointed her rifle at the teenage girl.

"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Sherry said, pointing to the button. "You know what this is? It's a Deadman's Switch. I've got a bomb and I'm not afraid to use it. Shoot me now and my finger will let go."

Margarita lowered her weapon. "What do you want?"

"What do you think I want?" Sherry retorted. "I want you all to go to hell! But more importantly, I want to free all the people you've so unkindly taken hostage. Tell your men. Tell them what I've got on me."

Margarita looked uneasy for a second, but then she smirked confidently. "How do I know that you really have a bomb on you? How do I know that that's not just the salvaged controller for an old video game console or something?"

Sherry shrugged. "You want proof? Sure. I'll show you where one of them is. Follow me."

 **Scene Transition**

Conan was a bit more than just surprised to see adult Shiho step into the cafeteria, holding something in her hand.

She...didn't, he thought, mortified. She didn't just expose herself like this, after they've thought her dead for so long, and then get herself captured...why the heck would she do that?!

"Umm, isn't that...?" Mitsuhiko said. "...Isn't that the woman who saved us?"

Sherry opened up the bottom drawer in the cafeteria kitchen and pulled that thing out.

She held it up high for everyone to see.

"Lo and behold!" she announced, literally holding a bomb in her hand. "I am telling the truth!"

She turned to Margarita. "First one's free, b*tch. But as for the rest of them, you're just gonna have to take my word for it."

She set the bomb on the kitchen counter and then came out from behind there.

"Hey kids!" Sherry called out. "Guess what?! This whole place is going to BLOW UP! You see all these guys here with their scary-looking guns? They're the least of your worries! If you wanna live, get moving! NOW!"

And that did it. She succeeded in setting off a panic as the kids mobbed their way through the cafeteria door.

Sherry continued to scream at them, and at the gunmen, goading them on to keep moving.

The gunmen were unsure how to respond, but then finally several of the guards joined in and tried to bail. They opened up a window and about six of them made a run for it. Within seconds, the rest of them in the room were doing likewise.

Bewildered at the situation, Yasuda and the adult hostages in the room stood up.

Sherry walked by him.

"I'll deal with you in a minute," she said. "Don't go anywhere."

She then stormed down the hallways screaming at the children and the gunmen who were patrolling that area.

Within a minute, they came flooding out of the front entrance to the school.

Sherry then entered the cafeteria and pulled the exact same stunt, and yet another wave of fleeing children ensued.

Conan and Mitsuhiko, who for the time being remained stationary, were simply amazed at the spectacle that they were witnessing.

Conan turned to Mitsuhiko. "Hey, you need to go."

"Huh? And what about you?"

Conan shook his head. "I can't go quite yet. There's still something I need to take care of."

 **Scene Transition**

In the gymnasium, Sherry stopped for a second and went up to Nancy, Ayumi, and Genta.

"You're...you are..." Ayumi stuttered.

"You're that miss who saved us in that cabin!" Genta said. "What are you doing back here again?"

"Saving your lives," she said.

She took a pill out of her pocket and gave it to Nancy.

"H-Huh?!" Nancy exclaimed, not only because this was an APTX-4869 antidote pill but because Haibara had given it to her right in front of Genta and Ayumi.

"I didn't bring a change of clothes for you," Sherry said. "Ask Kobayashi-sensei. That'll have to do for now. I'm gonna need you in the cafeteria in a minute."

She looked at Ayumi and Genta. "Both of you, get out of here while you still can. Your lives are in danger!"

"But what about Nancy-chan?" Ayumi asked.

"She'll be right behind you," Sherry said. "Go!"

And so they went.

Nancy faced the doorway; it was packed with children fleeing. Kobayashi was on the other side, in the hallway. It would be at least a minute or two before-

" _Oi_."

Andre Camel stood nearby.

"You're about to revert to your adult self?"

Nancy nodded.

"Alright. This should be enough to cover your entire upper body."

Camel took his shirt off and tossed it to her.

Flexing his uncensored abs, Camel ran out the opposite door. And Nancy followed suit, trying to find a private spot to make the big change.

 **Scene Transition**

Shiro turned the doorknob and practically slammed the door open. He ran inside Dr. Agasa's house.

"Haibara-san!" he exclaimed. "She escaped! I-I'm sorry, I couldn't-

"We know," Elena interrupted. "We saw her climbing out of a window here just a little while ago. And per police reports she just entered the school now. Now we're trying to figure out what her plan is. We're assuming she has one."

They were all sitting in the living room brainstorming.

"Have a seat," Atsushi said.

Shiro sat down.

"Has there been anything unusual about her behavior lately?" Satoshi asked the Professor.

"Unusual? Lately? Umm, well, I'd have to give that some thought..."

"Do you have room for one more person?"

Subaru Okiya stood at the doorway.

The Professor nodded. "Of course. Sit down."

The man with unrealistically squinted eyes took a seat.

"I know exactly what she's up to," Subaru said.

"Heeeh?!" Elena said. "Why didn't you say anything until now? Or did you just now figure it out?"

"No, I've known all along," Subaru said. "You see, she came to me asking me to help her set this up."

"Set what up?"

"It was in the aftermath of a parent-teacher conference that she was part of," Subaru explained.

"Oh, I remember that," Dr. Agasa said. "That was shortly before we questioned her about Mezcal."

"What she didn't tell you, I'm assuming, is that he approached her then. Threatened her to remain silent."

Elena nodded. "I figured that was probably why she was so reluctant to come forward with the truth. And what about it?"

"She wanted some form of insurance," Subaru said. "Something that she could fall back on if Mezcal attacked the school. Towards that end she had me install 60 bombs."

"That sounds...incredibly foolhardy," the Professor said. "Not going to lie."

Subaru shrugged. "The way she saw it, she was making the school more safe. I got those bombs from an acquaintance, ex-army. They're state of the art...ish. They won't just go off on their own. Not unless the detonators are manually overridden, and I doubt that's something one could do by accident. The students were in no...well, let me rephrase that. The students were not in a significant amount of danger from the bombs."

James Black barged in from the other room, where he'd been listening in on a police radio. "Elena-san! The hostages are all coming out!"

"In that case..." Satoshi began.

"We've got to find a way to disarm those bombs so that Shiho can't set them off," Atsushi said.

Shiro turned to Subaru. "Is there any way to do that?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. In fact, it's rather easy. Please follow me."

"Where, exactly?"

"To the basement. It's literally that simple."

 **Scene Transition**

Satisfied with the fruits of her endeavors, Sherry stepped back inside the cafeteria, where Yasuda, Margarita, and Conan still were.

Margarita growled. "You...You ruined everything!"

"I have no particular quarrel with you, so just this once I'll give you a chance to escape and fight another day," Sherry said. "Take it or leave it."

Margarita scoffed. "As if I'd-

*BLAM*

All it took was one clean shot to the head. Blood began to pour from Margarita's head as her fresh corpse fell to the ground.

The gun smoking in her hand, Sherry then proceeded to point her weapon at Yasuda.

H-Haibara...! Conan thought, a ghostly pale expression on his face, trying to process that his young comrade had just killed a person.

"I upheld my end of the deal," she said. "And still you brought an army here to hold my friends at gunpoint. Yasuda-san...I cannot let you walk out of here alive. I absolutely cannot accept that!"

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?" Yasuda said, his hands raised but his steely eyes focused on her gun. "You think killing me will change anything? I'm just a pawn in the hands of a master chess player."

"What does that even mean? You're working for Yoko Okino. I get that."

Yasuda shook his head. "No. Yoko herself is being played. She just doesn't realize it yet."

Then he grinned. "And you know who else is but one giant pawn? Your mother! We're all pawns! This is his game and we're all just his pawns!"

"You're not making any sense."

"Hmph, doesn't matter if I do or don't. I just needed to keep your eyes on my face, and not my-

"Haibara, he's got a gun!" Conan warned, realizing that Yasuda had only been stalling and recalling that Yasuda had probably looked inside his backpack.

*BLAM*

Sherry fired a round, but Yasuda had sufficient reaction time to do a roll to the side, taking shelter behind a table.

He aimed his gun at Sherry, who made a mad dive for a nearby table.

*BLAM*

Likewise, Yasuda's round missed.

"OI, HAIBARA!" Conan shouted at the top of his lungs as he himself took refuge behind a table. "Don't you dare let go of that trigger! You'll kill us all!"

What ensued was something resembling a firefight scene from _The Matrix_. Sherry and Mezcal leapt from spot to spot, taking highly inaccurate shots at each other.

"Haibara, LISTEN!" Conan called out, not daring to poke his head up. "That gun I brought, the one Yasuda-san's using: it can only hold eight rounds! He's already fired six by my count! You got this!"

No, Sherry thought. I've only got two left as well.

She stood up abruptly and cocked her weapon.

But she couldn't see Yasuda. After one and a half seconds she crouched back down and got down, trying to see beneath the tables where her adversary might be.

And then-

"Haibara, behind y-

It was too late. Mezcal stepped on Sherry's hand, knocking the gun out of it. He kicked it under and across the table.

He aimed his gun at Sherry's head.

"...Kill me now and this whole place will blow," Sherry said.

Yasuda grinned. "Oh, I doubt that. You see, all I have to do is deal a blow that's lethal, but not immediately so. At that point, I'm betting that you won't let up on the trigger because you'll still be holding out on the hopes of somebody rescuing you. You do want to live, after all. More so than you want me dead. Let up and there'll be no chance of you surviving. Of course, I'm willing to bet that you'll die of your injury before anybody can-

*whup*

With one solid swatting movement from the girl who excelled at the martial arts, the gun went flying from Yasuda's hand to somewhere across the room.

Ran and Yasuda faced each other, the former wearing nothing but a long white dress shirt which might as well have been a low cut dress for as oversized as it was on her. Though she of course did not intend on showing it, she was, as guys would refer to it, "going commando".

"You...you're Mezcal?" Ran asked.

Sherry attempted to rise, and Yasuda used her momentum to lift her up.

When Yasuda moved, Ran threw a punch. But such landed on Sherry's face, incapacitating the teenage biochemist.

Oh my...G-! Ran thought, horrified.

Yasuda let Sherry's now unconscious body fall onto a table.

They were both able to observe that Sherry's finger let off the trigger.

Several seconds passed, and...

"Nothing," Yasuda noted. "I guess she was just bulls**tting us after all."

They faced each other once more and then Yasuda began his offensive against Ran.

Yasuda punched and kicked at Ran, who kept falling back, foot after foot, powerless to do pretty much anything but block, as she obviously wasn't in a position to throw a kick.

Then she suddenly attempted to tackle Yasuda to the ground. But he surprised her by leaping up, kicking off the wall, gaining the upper hand, and slamming her into a table.

"...So you're the girl they call Ran Mouri," he mused. "I wouldn't have expected you to be such an easy opponent."

She growled. "I'm not...done YET!"

She managed to get in a solid punch to his gut, stunning him long enough for her to escape his grasp.

She made a desperate lunge for one of the guns, which was under a table.

Yasuda came from behind her and pulled her back.

Holding her upwards by the leg, she panicked and began trying to kick him.

Yasuda bent down, grabbed her by the neck, pulled her up, and lifted her above his head with an almost superhuman strength. And with one hand, no less.

Both unable to stand doing nothing from the sidelines and also in a position where he felt he had a good chance of succeeding, Conan (standing on a nearby table) activated his shoes, deployed a soccer ball from his belt, and kicked at Yasuda.

Throwing Ran forwards so that both hands would be free, Yasuda responded with lightning-fast reflexes and hit the incoming projectile as though it were a volleyball, sending it right back in-

*wham*

*thud*

Conan was knocked unconscious onto the floor, sporting a nasty bruise and a nosebleed.

Ran, on the floor, dashed once more for the gun under the table.

But Yasuda grabbed her hair and yanked her upwards quite violently, and then punched her in the gut. Harder than she had punched him.

Coughing up blood, she stumbled backwards.

"Not much fun, is it?" he said.

Then he slugged her in the face, knocking her out cold.

These two distractions out of the way, Yasuda picked up the gun from under the table and walked back across the aisles, under he was several feet from the still unconscious Sherry.

"I would ask you if you had any last words, but it's clear you can't speak right now. A shame, but I can't afford to wait any longer. Any second no the police will be-

"Don't move."

He turned his head. Behind him, Ayumi was holding a gun and pointing it at him.

"Easy now...You don't know how to use that."

"Who are you?" the young girl demanded. "Who are you really?! The Yasuda-san I thought i knew would never be a part of all the terrible things happening here today!"

"And how do you know about that, kid? Who told you?"

Ayumi shook her head. "Nobody had to tell me. All I know is that that woman saved my life twice now, and you're pointing a gun to her. That makes you one of the bad guys. That woman over there (Margarita)...did you kill her too?"

"No, I haven't killed anyone yet. Not today, anyways."

Ayumi swallowed. "T-Today? You mean..."

"Yeah, I've killed plenty of people before today. Never a child...but it looks like today might be a first for that."

"Why are you doing all this? Is it just because you're a bad man?"

"Bad...man?" Yasuda repeated. "Really?"

He faced her and approached menacingly. Taken back, Ayumi fell on her knees, trembling.

Yasuda grabbed the gun in her hand, pointed it away from him, and then looked her uncomfortably close in the face. "Kid, do you not recognize everything I've done to help you? How many times I've stuck my neck out on your behalf? Why do you think that none of the hostages got killed? Who do you think was responsible for that, huh?! Who do you think I did that for?! You think ANY of this was my idea?! I have a job to do, kid! There's nothing glamorous or heroic about it, but somebody has to do it! And I for one think I'm doing a pretty fine job at it!"

"You're...scaring me!" Ayumi shrieked, closing her eyes.

"You had the audacity to point a gun at my face...do you know who I am? Do you even know what I'm fighting for? I'm fighting for YOU, ya hear me! I'm fighting for YOU, Akihime-chan! So that you never have to fade away like a wilted flower!"

A-Akihime-chan? Ayumi thought.

She opened her eyes to realize that Yasuda was wearing the silver locket.

It was the one that he had shown her, back when they were in hiding from the creator of the death game _Triskelion_.

"Who was...Akihime-chan to you, exactly?" Ayumi asked. "What happened to her? You said that she died, but..."

Yasuda gave a sad smile. "You wouldn't believe me either way, kid."

From the corner of her eye, Ayumi could see that Sherry was beginning to wake up.

"Oh yeah? Try me," Ayumi said, in a bid to buy a couple more seconds.

His eyes welling up, Yasuda began: "This is going to be an incredibly difficult pill for you to swallow, that much I know, but the truth is that once upon a time _I_ was Akih-

Sherry grabbed him from behind, slammed him backwards with a judo technique, climbed on top of him and held his gun to his face.

"Ayumi- _chan_ , cover your ears and don't look!" she ordered.

A peaceful expression on his face, Yasuda had apparently resigned himself to his impending demise.

"You cannot...stop...what _he_ has already set into motion," were his final words.

And then:

*BLAM*

And for a couple seconds afterwards, Sherry just sat there, incredulous, the blood of her former lab partner all over her clothes and face.

 **Scene Transition**

"...And that's the situation inside," Conan said, his head still throbbing. "What's going on outside?"

"We're still trying to hold off the police from entering," Elena said from the other side of the phone. "We can only buy you a couple more minutes at best, so whatever you're going to do, make it fast."

Then she hung up.

Sherry had already dragged Yasuda's body next to Margarita's, in preparation to dispose of both at the same time.

"Alright," Conan said. "How are we going to do this? I take it the science lab here isn't large enough to have the equipment needed to simply dissolve them?"

Sherry shook her head, panting. "We're gonna have to use the bombs."

"Huh?"

Sherry pointed to the one on the kitchen counter nearby. "I can manually override the detonator. I think I can give us maybe one minute to place it by the bodies and flee. It should be enough to thoroughly dispose of both of their bodies, so that there'll be no chance of the Organization reviving either of them. It will definitely cause a lot of damage to this cafeteria, though."

Conan nodded. "We'll have to depend on the fire department to handle the rest."

Meanwhile, from across the room, Ran was trying to calm Ayumi.

"It was just SO HORRIBLE!" Ayumi cried. "Y-Yasuda-san was...he was...!"

And then she looked up. "B-By the way, Ran-oneesan, how are you still here? I went to your-

"Funeral?"

Ran giggled. "Let's just say that I got very, very lucky, and I was able to get a second chance at life. I can't explain how, but..."

Then she turned serious. "Ayumi-chan, I cannot stress enough how important it is that you don't tell anyone about me. It could cause me a whole lot of trouble if you do, and I don't know how I'd handle that."

Ayumi nodded, wiping her eyes.

"Now, I need for you to go now," Ran said, soft-spoken like a kindergarten teacher. "Out the front door. Your parents and your friends should be waiting for you. You can go home, climb in your cozy, warm bed, have wonderful sweet dreams, and forget all about what happened today."

"Huuh? After all this there's no way that I can-

"You can," Ran insisted. "Because you're strong, Ayumi-chan. The strongest girl your age that I know."

After three seconds Ayumi nodded meekly, not looking up.

"Attagirl. Now go."

And so Ayumi turned to go. As she walked up to the sliding door, she stopped and turned around.

She faced Sherry, the mysterious woman who kept saving hers and the life of her friends.

"Thank you," she said.

Sherry nodded. "Any time. Now go."

As soon as Ayumi was gone...

"... _Neh_ , Haibara, you brought enough apotoxin pills for the both of you, right?" Conan asked.

"Of course," Sherry said, beginning to tinker with the bomb.

"C-Careful with that thing!"

"Hey, do you want to do this instead of me?"

"Uhh, no," he responded sheepishly.

He and Ran looked down at the two bodies, aware of the fact that Haibara had shot them both.

Ran shook her head. "How did this day end up becoming such a nightmare?"

"Because of me, because of Elena-san...the list can go on and on," Conan said.

Ran turned to him. "Shinichi, listen..."

"Hmm?"

"We can't turn in Ai-chan for this."

" _Baka_ , we'd have to turn in ourselves too, since we're every bit complicit in this. Besides, this is war...killing enemy combatants in war is not murder. These two people were a threat to humanity itself. Haibara did the right thing."

He looked up at her. "Ran, I'm sorry that you can't stay this way, like...you know."

"How many times do I have to tell you? That wasn't your fault. And...I'm willing to be patient. Until the day that I regain my normal age. So long as I'm waiting with you."

Not being able to help but smirk at how Shinichi was blushing, Ran said:

"I'm gonna go get my clothes now. For the change back."

"O-Okay..."

After Ran left:

"You almost got it?" Conan asked.

"Almost," Sherry said. "But before I do, there's something else we need to figure out."

"Huh?"

She turned to him, redfaced. "I didn't bring anything with me! How can I go out those doors as-

"There's only one alternative, then," Conan said. "You're gonna have to sneak out."

"Huuuh? But how can I do that? This whole school is surrounded by cops!"

"Y-You have a point...umm...Ah! I know! The drama club!"

"What about them? _Oi_ , _oi_ , you're not suggesting that I-

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"...No. No I do not. Alright, go something that for me. Preferably something as inconspicuous as possible."

"Gotcha."

Then he ran off, leaving her by herself with the bomb and the two bodies for the moment.

She tried her best not to show Kudo-kun, but the truth was that her hands were trembling. It was significantly impeding her progress, though she was still confident that she could get it done soon enough.

This...is a cover-up, she realized. For my first double-murder.

She was not unfamiliar with death, per se. She'd conducted experiments on human test subjects who didn't survive the ordeal. But in both cases, she was simply the metaphorical guy who flipped the switch. Anybody else could've administered the drug in her place.

In this case, she herself took out these two peop-

"No," she decided. "This is no different from that. I already had blood on my hands all this time, the entirety of this past year and a half that I was with them. What's a little more? At least this time..."

At least this time I did it to save my friends, she thought with a reassuring smile. Alright. I can do this. I CAN DO THIS!

She cut the green wire and all that was left was to push the button.

 **Scene Transition**

Five minutes later Conan, Nancy, and Haibara walked out of Teitan Elementary via the front door.

And then:

*BOOOM*

They stepped behind the police barricade and were immediately greeted by their worried friends and family.

It was over.

 **Ending**

(In the Storm of my Mind by Sayuri)

On that day they trekked to the mouth of the great river

Leading the procession, the elder donning black vestments

His wrinkled face, an old, sad story etched into its creases

With a thousand yard stare, he uttered the old utterances

"Take to heart, ye of few days, what you have witnessed!"

His words carried no weight as we played quietly in the back

The years passed, and our style of play grew more refined

Anywhere, anytime, you were the only company I needed

But watching you gasp for air was a sudden slap in the face

It was from then that I could hear the crescendo of the bells

Trapped in the storm of my mind none can hear me scream

I know our bodies shall be threshed at the foot of the altar

And our ashes sprinkled on the lips of the grinning demon

This happy dream is naught but the vapors of a dying flame

I want to cherish these moments always, but I am reminded

The strongest among us must yield to the turning of the hour

Its ticking, like nails on a chalkboard, like cascading thunder

The stroke of midnight shall do us apart, forever and ever.


End file.
